I think this is going to be one of those History vs. Hollywood movies that I am ok with just knowing the Hollywood version of the story. I loved this story and what the characters of Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris were daring enough to attempt and actually accomplish that I don’t want the idea of “well that’s not how it actually happened” to taint the story for me.
The film itself follows the classic true story tropes that are very easily seen in music biopics. It starts at the end of the story during a moment of great importance that would cause someone to reflect back on their entire life and then flashes back to when the main character was a child and his hit with a life lesson the puts them on the path to greatness. It’s a tried and true formula for framing movies based on true events. While I do not mind it, it’s not my favorite trope.
Anthony Mackie does a great job of becoming Bernard. He is a very logical person and his frustrations with the societal norms of the time reflect what someone (hopefully) feels in 2020 when presented with the events unfolding in the movie so sometimes he feels like an audience surrogate instead of the main character.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie. I am a sucker for movies based on a true story and this one is definitely on my list of films to watch about racial injustices.
