‘Bout time!
As Whoopi Goldberg said on The View, I have been waiting 25 years for this movie. And then along comes Black Panther, satisfying yearnings I didn’t know I had until seeing them realized in 3-D splendor. If you skip the trailer, there are no spoilers in my homage to director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station and Creed) and his phenomenal story, cast and crew.
Like the documentary I featured a few weeks ago, Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, in Coogler’s hands, Black Panther takes the moral and artistic high ground, using filmic elements of humor and innuendo to land succinct attacks on the oppressive slave narrative—a story we know all too well—and move on. For that I am most grateful.
“What’s so special about this film is that we see an idyllic society that has figured out its gender dynamics where women are allowed to assume their power, realize their full potential and the men are not threatened by it so that they can be of support to each other—which is the world we want to see.”— Lupita Nyong’o, on The View
How could we know that when our black superhero savior finally arrived he would be armed with not only vibranium, but a cast of powerful women, who like him, possess coolness, swagger and such beyond-Bond gizmos that, had I not been reclined in the new Loungers at Rowland Cinema in Novato, I would have fallen out of my seat.
“You create excellence it’ll be responded to. I’m thankful that Mr. Coogler and Marvel got together and created excellence. [the response] makes sense to me, I think we’ve been yearning for it.”— Danai Gurira, on The View
Of course, there’s no escaping violence in a super hero movie—sadly true these days for nearly any film you see—but Black Panther has one scene that crosses even that line for me. Since I have close to zero tolerance for violence in films, I’ll close my eyes next time. In his review, David Edelstein sites a “few sub-par computer effects” and I could surf and see what that’s about but—who cares!!? Black Panther does not disappoint and I can’t wait to see this already iconic film again. Altogether, right now: let’s cross our fisted arms over my chest and repeat after me: Wakanda forever!…
