MovieChat Forums > Whitewash: The Clarence Brandley Story (2002) Discussion > Good intentions but an absurd portrayal.

Good intentions but an absurd portrayal.

posted 20 years ago by brett_callinan
4 replies | jump to latest

This film attempted to show a person overcoming racism and corruption. I was however lost in the directors absurd portrayal. The cardboard characters displayed in this film could be described as (in order to avoid an inappropriate pun) either completely righteous wonderfull and flawless people or completely dispicable people. At no time did the "Clarence" character express any anger over his wrongfull imprisonment, but merely acted like a confused child. Moreover the legal "conspiracy" was absurd and overdone. It is for these three main reasons I found this film unrealistic. Which means the films message (in trying to portray the reality of racism) is self defeating.

While I'm sure several members of the liberal population would have become upset from watching this film or become enraged by what the film portrays. I actually believe this film does more harm than good.

The main character had flawless morals, superb command of the English language, crisply ironed clothing, brilliant people skills, unshakable compassion for his fellow man, perfectly mannered and the humblest of desires in life.

The main characters opponents were totaly and overtly corrupt, completely unscrupulous, had poor command of the English language, were overtly lying, ugly and unshaven with poor haircuts.

I feel that most audience members would have made their judgements not based on the facts but on the image portrayed of the black man and the image portrayed of his white opressors. Thus in attempting to show the absurd effects of racism (an image based prejudicial judgement) it presents another absurd image for us to form our judgements on.

As this film has no realistic message I find it to be nothing more than a mechanism for unintelligent liberals to indulge themselves and a provider for feelings of self-righteousness and consumable disgust.

To those who liked this film I ask how you would judge a black man who hasn't been presented in such a sanitised manner?

[–] rmax304823 18 years ago

I kind of agree with you but not entirely. The African-Americans didn't seem to have any of the usual human flaws. That's a weakness in the film. But not all the white people were shown as trailor trash. Some were morally upright.

But what has this to do with liberals -- unintelligent or otherwise?

[–] info-996-828544 10 years ago

"But what has this to do with liberals -- unintelligent or otherwise"?

I suspect that the answer to that question is that the previous poster is inclined to defend the antics of the "good old boys" in Texas and elsewhere. I also think the comment does a dis-service to the conservatives in suggesting that they don't care if the wrong person is executed.

Whether you are a Conservative or a Liberal, injustice should shame us all because the law is upheld in the name of the people. It should be noted that the Texas Rangers didn't get it's first black recruit until 1989, so the possibility of institutionalised racism cannot be ruled out in this case. The Rangers were not alone in apparently excluding black people. For many years, the FBI had only one black agent, whose role was to infiltrate black orgs that Hoover considered "subersive" (just about all of them). At one stage Hoover found himself in the public eye for failing to recruit black agents, so he made his chauffeur a "special agent".

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 9 years ago

I kind of agree with you but not entirely. The African-Americans didn't seem to have any of the usual human flaws. That's a weakness in the film. But not all the white people were shown as trailor trash. Some were morally upright.

But what has this to do with liberals -- unintelligent or otherwise?

This.

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

[–] rogerscorpion 18 years ago

I live in Houston. The facts are correct. They are a grand argument against capital punishment. I agree about the characters as written(no one has access to conversations. I think the fact that it was such a cut & dried story, by the time they made it--the producers didn't feel the need to convince. Had they made it during his incarceration, they'd have felt more pressure. However, even if Brandley was less endearing, the fact that an innocent man spent over a decade on death row. Thank goodness his sentence hadn't been carried out rapidly--as death penalty advocates complain.

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