Dutchman

Now I only intended to do this project on "Dutchman" and "Sweet Sweetback's Badassss Song" but with the such similar styles and same progressive idea's, I had to include others from the class. With such a radical time calls for a radical film. "Dutchman" is a play written by an African-American playwright Amiri Baraka, but was made into a movie in 1966 by Anthony Harvey and starred Shirley Knight as Lula, and Al Freeman Jr. as Clay. 

Lula is a seductive white goddess that tries to wrap her thoughts around a young black Clay until his demise. The film is hard to watch, just for the fact that the dialogue is so counterintuitive and tense. watching Lula stroke Clay's body in such sexual ferocity then with those same hands rip off the flesh that holds this young man's mind higher than the bigotry that surrounds him. 

Lula represents white America and the stereotypes and oppressive behavior that America has carried on its back against Blacks. This same America hates the idea of African-Americans that try to break the stereotype and rise above to do better than what has been. The apples I think are biblical, with the story of Adam and Eve, Lula is Eve who tempts Adam or Clay with knowledge, lust, and power. She throws them over her shoulder half eaten, representing the empty promises to Blacks and the wastefulness of America. 

The film if I remember correctly is void of a soundtrack, for the most part that is. And the film style is close and unified, it depicts (even though they embody stereotypes) real people. This is a very close rendition of a neo-realistic film, it reminded me of "Killer Of Sheep" which I will get to later. Absorbed the audience in a sometimes frightening but all to true depiction of nothing, there is no real plot, just conversation, there is no end, shown by Lula approaching another well-dressed black man, and the middle class is represented through Clay.