Film Review: Black Power Generation

By Anthony Kaufman
Published on December 15, 2010
article image

<p>A smart, honest snapshot of black power’s legacy, <i>Night Catches Us</i> captures a heated transitional moment in the civil rights struggle, smack dab between the empowerment of hard-won gains and the disillusionment of later mistakes. Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie deliver intense, rounded performances as two ex-Panthers trying to move on with their lives in 1976 Philadelphia, while Amari Cheatom plays a young man obsessed with black power to combustible effect. Hamilton’s script lacks the narrative acuity of, say, <i>Do the Right Thing</i>, but the film vividly reminds us that our country’s acrimonious racial history is far from resolved.</p>
<p>
<object width=”550″ height=”334″>
<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/hgtAhGOLC-Y?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0″>
<param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”>
<param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”>
<embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/hgtAhGOLC-Y?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”550″ height=”334″>
</object>
</p>
<p>
<a title=”jan-feb-2011-cover-thumbnail” href=”https://www.utne.com/archives/table-of-contents-january-february-2011.aspx”>
</a>This article first appeared in the January-February 2011 issue of <a title=”Utne Reader” href=”https://www.utne.com/subscribe/subscribe.aspx?promocode=EUTDNAZ2″>Utne Reader</a>.</p>

UTNE
UTNE
In-depth coverage of eye-opening issues that affect your life.