NYT: Why Do the Oscars Keep Falling for Racial Reconciliation Fantasies?

[madaboutharry]

2. I don't know what to think about this controversy.

I understand this side of the argument and how some may see these types of movies as condescending and can even be angry about it. But when I watched this movie, I really felt that Dr. Shirley was rescuing Tony just as much. At the end of the movie, Tony is a different man. He learned how to be a better person from Dr. Shirley.

Films about real life people are never accurate because real life is usually boring. Screen writers take liberties with a biography in order to make an interesting movie where there is conflict. Sometimes they mess up. A few years ago there was a film about Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon Tiki expedition. One of the men on the expedition was named Herman Watzinger, an engineer who was a pioneer in modern refrigeration. He was also an accomplished athlete who remained fit through his adult life. In the movie, Herman was downgraded to a refrigerator salesman and was played by an overweight and out of shape actor who was scared during most of the journey. It was almost slanderous. In the book written by Heyerdahl, it is clear he and Watzinger worked closely throughout the expedition and Watzinger wasn't anything like he was portrayed in the movie. The writers apologized to his family, but the damage to his memory was done.