Pride (2007)

[size=3]"Pride" is one of those simple, conventional but uplifting movies about at-risk youth defying the odds and learning to believe in themselves.[/size] [size=3][img]http://www.getoutaz.com/story/images/photos/bklmsvkd.jpg[/img][/size] [size=3]The film is set in 1974 Philadelphia in the heart of what is often called the "inner city." [I, by the way, live in the "inner city" -- Washington Heights, NYC -- aka "the ghetto."] The neighborhood is falling down around the people who can't afford to leave. Destitution and drugs are everywhere. It's a struggle for teenagers to escape the clutches of the local drug lords, who are the only people offering well-paying jobs.[/size] [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1165269/photo_05.jpg[/img] [size=3]As usual in this genre, there's a saintly adult who teaches the kids to dream big, and as usual there's some kind of hobby in which they immerse themselves. In this case it's something that is especially counter to the inner-city lifestyle: swimming. There are few sports as white as swimming.[/size] [size=3]The role of the encouraging adult is here played by [b]Terrence Howard[/b], the man who gave "Hustle & Flow" and "Crash" such remarkable soul. Unfortunately Howard here stays on the straight and narrow. He stays tightly within the conventions of this genre.[/size] [size=3]The same goes for [b]Bernie Mac[/b], who acts against type by not cracking jokes but who also stays firmly within the conventions. I'm disappointed that first-time director [b]Sunu Gonera [/b]kept his actors in such check. This is not an auspicious directorial debut.[/size] [size=3]Along with the story of the teenagers, there is the saga of the local Recreation Center, which was allowed to fall apart just like everything else in the neighborhood. As the kids are building their swimming skills, they're also working to breathe new life into the downtown Rec Center, hoping that the city will start funding it again. I'll let you guess as to whether they succeed.[/size] [img]http://www.getoutaz.com/story/images/photos/l5gogc0r.jpg[/img] [size=3]What would have been great is more complex story-writing about the Howard and Mac characters. All we get here is that their lives were hemmed in by racism. Of course that should be part of the story, but it's just about all we learn about these men. The same goes for the boys in the story. We never really get into these boys' hearts. Lord knows that black kids aren't only faced with battles against racists and drug lords. There's a lot more going on in the ghetto than that.[/size] [size=3]But as predictable and platitudinous as the story was, I was still moved. I cried during the film a number of times. You'd have to be made of stone not to. I still enjoy seeing movies about Black and Latin kids resisting the forces that be. And it's also still important to nurture filmmaking about Black experiences, even when the output isn't stellar. Ghetto kids who see this film will be moved; there's no doubt about it. That's worth a lot more than an artistic masterpiece, at least on certain levels.[/size] [img]http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/4896/Pride.jpg[/img]