The newly released movie Moonlight<\/em> is a very quiet film with a powerful impact. It\u2019s absorbing, thought-provoking and emotionally exhausting, with performances that are breathtaking. But I wonder if anyone is going to go to see it. The 16-screen theater where we saw it this afternoon offered only one showing\u2014at 3:30\u2014in a dine-in screening room that seated only 50 people.<\/p>\n

If that limited availability is typical, it\u2019s very unfortunate, because Moonlight<\/em> should be on everyone\u2019s watch list.<\/p>\n

The story follows the main character, Chiron, from his childhood years in a struggling African-American neighborhood in Miami, through high school and young adulthood. He\u2019s a quiet [almost completely silent, actually] \u00a0kid\u2014ignored by his drug-addicted mother, bullied by his neighbors and classmates, and mentored\u2014for a time\u2014by a drug dealer who has retained a sense of decency. We follow Chiron as he grows up, with the three stages of his life portrayed by three different actors [each of whom gives a stunning performance.] It\u2019s a heartbreaking story.<\/p>\n

But beyond summarizing the plot, it\u2019s almost impossible to describe this movie. Unlike many of the formulaic movies that draw big box office returns, Moonlight<\/em> does not fit well into a single category.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a \u201cblack\u201d movie\u2014although all of its characters are African-Americans, its setting is a black community in Miami, and there\u2019s a lot of vernacular that this aging white lady in a suburban bubble doesn\u2019t usually hear. Unfortunately, AMC Theatres apparently thinks it is, indeed, a \u201cblack\u201d movie. How do I know? Because 4 out of 5 of the previews that precede it are movies featuring predominantly black actors. That categorization does this movie\u2014and all audiences\u2014a disservice. \u201cMoonlight\u201d focuses on black characters, but tells a story that is far broader.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not just a \u201ccoming out\u201d or \u201cgay\u201d movie, although the main character is bullied, as a child and throughout middle- and high-school, by others who call him a \u201cfaggot.\u201d It takes him years to discover who he is, and even more years to accept and act on that aspect of his identity.<\/p>\n

Nor is it a \u201clove story,\u201d in the conventional sense. You could say that Chiron eventually learns to accept himself, and discovers that he is capable of loving someone else, and saying so out loud. But you don\u2019t get that until very late in his story\u2014and the future of that self-actualization is not certain.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t comment on the verisimilitude of the story and the characters, because I\u2019ve lived a completely different\u2014privileged, protected, insulated\u2014life. But I don\u2019t think you need to have lived Chiron\u2019s life to appreciate the damaging effect that parental rejection and cultural ostracism can have on a person, regardless of skin color, culture, socio-economic circumstances, neighborhood or other factors. Chiron is oppressed\u2014for reasons he doesn\u2019t understand and can\u2019t control\u2014and repressed as a result. His is not just \u201cblack\u201d suffering, it is human pain.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what else to say. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot that I missed and didn\u2019t understand because of who I am. But that didn\u2019t stop me from aching for Chiron as a human being.<\/p>\n

The Hollywood establishment has believed, for essentially its entire history, that \u201cnobody\u201d [meaning, of course, white people] will go to movies with African-Americans in lead roles. Please seek out this remarkable film\u2014primarily because it\u2019s just a damn good movie\u2014and, as a by-product, to prove them wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The newly released movie Moonlight is a very quiet film with a powerful impact. It\u2019s absorbing, thought-provoking and emotionally exhausting, with performances that are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1651,784,559],"tags":[2838,351],"yoast_head":"\n