If Beale Street Could Talk it would whisper to us all that the stories made on it are worth telling. It would remind us of the lives that were enhanced by its presence and it would sob for every life stolen from its sidewalks, screaming for all the potential greatness lost for every man that couldn’t afford to save himself from the clutches of the death that awaited him by those officers who comb through Beale street looking to fill the State’s cages.
If Beale Street Could Talk is the only Christmas Day release with a Black director, Barry Jenkins. The film was released in select theaters, only two in my region, making it difficult for me to find the movie. However, it was well worth the search and with the number of theaters expanding in the New Year I urge everyone to take the time to see this movie. Director, Barry Jenkins did an incredible job drawing the audience into the story by making us feel like a part of the family, grieving for their loved one lost to the United State’s criminal justice system.
Tish, played by Kiki Layne, the main protagonist in the film, described the criminal justice system as, “the death that awaited the children of our generation”. Her statement hit me hard as I realized that this death was one that continued to plague the children of modern generations, from the days of chattel slavery when we were brought from the mother land to be bought and sold, to the days of modern day slavery where policies and laws regulated us out into the outskirts of society until restrictions pushed us behind bars that would fight to ever let us go.
Proof That They Are the Devil
The film called for liberation, of not only the body but the mind. I realized quickly why the movie had only been released to select theaters with one of its repeated statements that, “the white man is the devil” that continued to guide us through the movie.
The statement first exited out of the mouth of one of the leading protagonists close friends, Daniel Carty (played by Brian Tyree Henry), a friend from childhood that co star Fonny, played by Stephan James, hadn’t seen in years. After crossing paths on the street, Daniel disclosed why he’d been missing for years. Fear traveled from his eyes into the eyes of his friend as he described the three years of incarceration he was forced to suffer after accepting a plea for a crime he hadn’t committed, “because it was hell of a lot better than a marijuana charge”. He continued to explain, “They can do anything they want to you in there” he said as he stressed that his time behind bars proved to him that the statement was absolutely true, “The white man is the devil”.
The phrase was repeated again among the fathers of Fonny and Tish while at the bar. The men shared their vexation with one another over the seemingly impossible situation that their children were in. The family had the financial burden of hiring investigators to prove their son’s innocence or allow him to sit in prison for a crime he did not commit. Together they encouraged each other as they devised a plan to finance their son’s case, confident that they would be able to get him out.
Caught in a Love Triangle with Injustice
Tish’s narration forced the audience to share her pain, hearing the frustration that morphed into exhaust and slowly transformed into torment each time she visited her incarcerated lover. As her belly grew she was forced to share her pregnancy with the father of her child behind bulletproof glass. Throughout the movie one aspect of her voice that was never lost, was hope. We could always feel the hope she had, when her hope was low her mother, played by Regina King, transferred some of her own to Tish. When her mother was out of sight then Tish’s father, played by Colman Domingo, was there to fill in any gaps in need of a little extra strength and perseverance.
While the movie communicated political themes that enlightened audiences, the film also showed us the power of Black love and nuclear family. While both families of the protagonists had their own dysfunction, they were nuclear families held down by Black marriages, which we rarely see on screen. The Black family unit was strong and the members supported one another, even in their shame or humiliation. This thoroughly communicated the idea that, we don’t have anyone else but each other so when we refuse to support one another then we are only contributing to the degradation of ourselves.
The movie took twists and turns that kept viewers on the edge of their seats. In the moments that we were ready for a breakthrough another conflict hit as Fonny’s trial was continually pushed back while Tish’s belly continued to grow and grow. We were wrapped in the main protagonists love story to the point that hearts broke for them when they were forced apart. If Beale Street Could Talk was well deserving of every reward that’s been earned to the title from Best Movie of the year to the multiple nominations of Best Motion Picture, Best Screenplay and Regina King’s Best Performing Actress in a supporting role.
Beale Street is Telling Us that Nothing about the U.S. CJS has Changed
During the time of this movie’s release I was home in the Detroit area for the holidays. Had I not been, I’m not sure if I would have even had access to seeing the film. Though it had been less than a week that the movie had been released to this selected theatre there were only a few rows filled, but every single audience member was of African decent so the experience felt like a family affair. We all felt the thorns that stabbed us as we viewed the images that flashed across the screen of the medieval conditions of American prisons in the 1950s, realizing that they’ve barely changed since then.
With the current political climate pushing for prison reform and prisoners calling for the recognition of their human rights the film came at the perfect time. If Beale Street Could Talk is a shocking reminder that not much, if anything, has changed about the way that our criminal justice system operates.
In the same way that people are forced to accept a plea due to the lack of resources available to appropriately try their case; these were the circumstances that forced, Fonny, an innocent man to watch his lover suffer through her pregnancy alone while he waited behind bars.
In the exact same way that the overcrowded, violent prisons routinely abused inmates like fearfully Daniel told Fonny; today prisoners routinely suffer from abuses ranging from sexual to physical while emotional and psychological abuses have been normalized to the point of expectation.
In the same way that Fonny’s family was forced to foot the bill for an unjust, ill-prepared and underfunded system; now impoverished families are targeted by this system as well as predatory companies with no legal or financial resources to fight back.
In the same way that officers were protected over the lives of the innocent men and women that are dependent are their protection; today officers are are rarely punished, and often awarded for their abuses of power.
If Beale Street Could Talk is screaming that the American Criminal Justice system hasn’t changed at all since its inception as the evolution of chattel, raced based slavery and I’m thankful to Barry Jenkins and the select theaters that are showing this movie for bringing this film to the public. I urge everyone of every race and nationality to support this film, especially on January 4th when the number of theaters showing are increased. Let’s blow up the box offices and get out to see If Beale Street Could Talk.
