See the World Through the Eyes of the "Nickel Boys"

Title: Nickel Boys Director: RaMell Ross Studio: Amazon MGM Studios Genre(s): Drama Rated: PG-13 (For thematic material involving racism, some strong language including racial slurs, violent content and smoking)

It has been said (by myself and others) that the best movies are the ones that give you a chance to live someone else's life. To walk in their shoes, see the world from their point of view, and understand life through a different perspective. “Nickel Boys” takes that concept to a whole new level, as we not only live a life most of us never will, but we are put into the body of our protagonists…literally. When the film opens, we are watching a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. on the television through a shop window. Soon our eyes are taken off the TV and we realize that there is a reflection of a little black boy who is watching the TV.

A minute later the camera will move, and we will officially be walking in the shoes of this boy. His name is Elwood, who is growing up in a world where the Civil Rights Movement is gaining traction. While he attends an all-black school (where paragraphs on pages have to be whited out due to factual misinformation on black history), he is growing up in a time when he may have a shot at the American dream. He is even being noticed by his teachers, who have recommended him to an all-black college where he will be the first generation in his family to get a college education.

The world, though it is making progress, is not quite there yet. Young Elwood finds himself arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and soon he is just another juvenile delinquent who risks being in jail until he is of legal age to get out. That the school is terrible and treats him as subhuman is, sadly, not a surprise to us. Even today youth prisons have a bad reputation for abusing power. What strikes fear into us is the fact that by giving us a first-person view of Elwood’s life, we feel like we are participating in abuse and punishment in ways that other movies do not.

While most movies have good (and practical) intentions, witnessing tough events from the outside in will always create a scenario in which the audience are observers of the actions rather than participants. By giving us the first-person view, we come the closest we can to feeling Elwood’s pain. It is masterful direction by RaMell Ross, who is giving the black experience the most unique voice since Spike Lee and Dee Rees burst onto the scene with their voices. While it would be fine to say that “Nickel Boys” shows how we have the same hopes and fears, this is also a case where we are only too aware of how different our experiences are.

Black people have long gotten a raw deal in America. Yes, things are improving, but you can’t dispute the fact that for years we failed many of our brothers and sisters with segregation. We are still failing our kids with a justice system that fails to properly rehabilitate kids who mess up. Elwood has reason to hope that things will get better (and I am happy to say it does), but that does not change the fact that he did not deserve what happened to him. We owe people like him an apology and a promise to do better, and “Nickel Boys” will have you realizing that in ways you never thought before.