Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel of racism, abuse, and survival in reform school America gets a luminous adaptation.
In 1960s Florida, Black model student Elwood has his achievements and security taken from him when the police implicate him in theft, sending him to a segregated academy which views him as subhuman. Befriending a broken fellow student and inspired by the growing peace movement, he keeps pushing for a better life – but the school hides deeper evil than he is prepared for. Following his documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening, director RaMell Ross keeps a fresh small-scale focus, filming only from the leads’ perspective (like Channel 4’s Peep Show) to bring their experiences closer to home. This fits perfectly alongside great performances and Whitehead’s revelatory historical storytelling, making for a film of staggering empathy, beauty, and emotional power.
