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BEST
POLITICAL FILMS OF THE YEAR 2000 ANNOUNCED
The
Political Film Society Board of Directors met today,
counted ballots cast by members, and certified the following
winners:
DEMOCRACY.
Sunshine, directed
by István Szabó.
EXPOSÉ.
Before Night Falls,
directed by Julian Schnabel.
HUMAN RIGHTS.
Remember the Titans,
directed by Boaz Yakin.
PEACE.
Thirteen Days,
directed by Roger Donaldson.
DOWN
TO EARTH PATRONIZES AFRICAN AMERICANS
 In
Down to Earth, Lance Barton (played by Chris
Rock) is trying to make it as a comedian at the Apollo Club
in Harlem. but he just has not developed the knack. All of
a sudden, while distracted by a pretty woman, he is killed
by a passing truck, and soon he enters heaven, where beautiful
people are dancing at a night club. But Lance wants to go
back to earth to reach his ambition to become a stand-up comedian
and to romance the pretty girl, Suntee (played by Regina King).
Two New York-accented White dudes, dressed in con-men attire,
appear to be in charge, so he approaches them and begs to
return. Mr. King (played by Chazz Palminteri) explains that
he can be reincarnated into someone else’s body, so he and
his sidekick Mr. Keyes (played by Eugene Levy) take him to
see some possible bodies to inhabit. Lance turns down all
those he views, so they give him one last chance -- the White
body of Charles Wellington III. Lance agrees, but only on
a temporary basis -- until they can find a Black dude --,
and the deal is struck. However, Lance keeps his own African-American
personality, while the rest of the world will see the body
of the one whom he replaces. Meanwhile, Wellington’s wife
(played by Jennifer Coolidge) and her lover Sklar (played
by Greg Germann) have just plotted to kill Wellington, and
they are surprised when Wellington emerges alive after an
attempt to poison him. Soon, Suntee appears, protesting that
Wellington’s firm has just bought out the only public hospital
in Brooklyn with plans to turn the structure into a moneymaking
hotel.
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As Wellington,
Lance makes a play for Suntee by promising to keep the hospital
running, with nobody turned away for lack of insurance, but
the board of directors of his firm is incensed. He also increases
the salaries of his servants 200 percent, buys out a comedy
club so that he can practice his material for the last amateur
contest before the Apollo Club closes, and Suntee falls for
the new Wellington. The two angels soon appear, telling Lance
that his time as Wellington is up, as they have found a Black
body for him. But the rules are that when he is reincarnated
permanently, he will have no memory of the life as either
Lance Barton or Wellington. Then an assassin, hired by the
board of directors, puts a fatal bullet in Wellington. Reincarnated,
Lance soon wins the Apollo Club competition, but not as Lance.
As he walks out of the auditorium, appearing to be lost, he
is alongside Suntee. Thus, his dream has finally come true,
albeit in his reincarnated life. The best part of the film
is the humor, not the story or the happy ending, but the humor
is tailored for African Americans and their friends in the
big cities of the United States; many comedy lines will sail
over the heads of suburban Whites. Although Blacks account
for 25 percent of all filmviewers, Down to Earth
may not cross over to white America in any substantial way
despite the efforts of codirectors Chris and Paul Weitz to
retrofit the plots of Here Comes Mr. Jordan
(1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1978). Meanwhile,
there are many political themes in the film -- how privatization
of public hospitals shortchanges the poor, why the indigent
die because hospitals insist on accepting only those covered
by insurance, and the way in which cabdrivers refuse to pick
up African American customers. Unfortunately, those most likely
to see Down to Earth will already know about
these social ills. The subtext of the film appears to say
that the only hope for poor Blacks in the United States is
to be reincarnated into White bodies, and, since that scenario
is unrealistic, the real message is that African Americans
should be content to escape into humor, the pursuit of dreamgirls,
or, as the film’s tagline ("A case of premature reincarnation")
suggests, engage in fantasy. Down to Earth,
in short, ratifies an unjust status quo, retrospectively justifying
Spike Lee’s fury in Bamboozled
(2000), and leads to a very disturbing question: Has Chris
Rock become the Steppin Fetchit of the 21st century? MH
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