East Ohio Conference

≡
  • About Us
    • Welcome/Vision
    • Bishop's Office
    • Annual Conference
    • Jurisdictional Conference
    • General Conference
    • Districts/Churches
    • Conference Staff
    • Communications
    • Credit Union
    • Foundation
  • Ministries
    • Connectional Ministries
    • Strategic Ministries
    • Missions & Community Engagement
    • Multicultural Ministries
    • Young People's Ministries
    • Higher Education
    • Camps & Retreat Ministries
    • Spiritual Formation
    • Media Center
  • Missions
    • Mission Journeys
    • Disaster Response
    • Health & Well-Being
    • Training & Events
    • Financial Support
  • Advocacy
    • Church & Society
    • DisAbility Awareness
    • Safe Sanctuaries
    • Stand Against Racism
    • East Ohio Votes
    • OCUIR
    • GCSRW
  • Clergy
    • Pathways to Ministry
    • Board of Ministry
    • Order of Elders
    • Order of Deacons
    • Fellowship of Local Pastors
    • Retired Pastors
    • Clergy Directory
    • Clergy Well-Being
    • Changing Pastors?
    • Continuing Education
    • Sexual Ethics Policy
  • Laity
    • Pathways to Ministry
    • Board of Laity
    • Lay Leaders
    • Lay Servants
    • United Methodist Men
    • United Women in Faith
  • Finance/Benefits
    • Financial & Administrative Services
    • Online Forms
    • Online Payments
    • Shared Ministry/Stewardship
    • Health Benefits
    • HealthFlex Wellness
    • Clergy Pensions
    • Death & Disability Benefits
  • News
    • East Ohio News
    • E-News
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
    • UM News
  • Resources
    • Conference Journal
    • Media Center Catalog
    • Teach • Reach • Bless
    • Stand Against Racism
    • EOC Disaffiliation Pathway
    • Stand with Ukraine
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Online Worship Services
    • The Rule of Christ
    • Safe Sanctuaries
    • Message in Movies
    • CCLI & CVLI Licensing
    • Archives and History
    • General Agencies of The UMC
    • UMC.org
    • UMC Directory
    • UMC Logos/Graphics
    • Find-A-Church
    • Ask The UMC
  • Calendar
    • View Calendar
    • Suggest Calendar Event

Home | Message in the Movies

MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Film strip

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom - On Netflix Streaming and In Theaters

halo halo halo pitchfork pitchfork pitchfork pitchfork Rated R

Directed by George C. Wolfe
Starring Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman


The great American playwright August Wilson wrote a series of ten plays during his lifetime that together are known as “The Century Cycle” or “The Pittsburgh Cycle”. Each play is set in a different decade of the 20th Century; together they tell a compelling story about the Black Experience. Denzel Washington hopes to produce film versions of all ten plays. The first film – set in the 1950s – was 2018’s Fences. Now we have Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, set in Chicago in the late 1920s.

Both of these movies are clearly filmed plays. Personally, I like the legacy of August Wilson’s language retained for future generations and appreciate the respect that is given to the spoken word. However, I am not sure that the brisk pace of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (it’s only 90 minutes long) is enough time to digest the meaty themes of this drama; it feels overstuffed.

The movie imagines a studio recording session featuring the popular blues singer Ma Rainey (Davis) and her band of musicians. She is also accompanied by her young nephew (Dusan Brown) and her female partner (Taylour Paige). The band members include the older and wiser piano player named Toledo (Glynn Turman) and the religious trombone and guitar player Cutler (Colman Domingo), who tries to keep everyone else in line. The wild card is trumpet player Levee (Boseman), who wants to break out on his own and play hotter and faster songs and not the “jug band music” of Delta blues.

Ma knows that her records are popular and uses her authority in order to guarantee that her manager and recording studio manager – both white – pay her band appropriately and keep the music pure.

Early in the film there is talk about folks who have sold their soul to the devil in order to get ahead. Levee reveals in two long speeches why he is scarred emotionally and physically and why he no longer believes in God. At the time of filming Boseman was aware that he was losing his battle with cancer and dug deep into his personal pain to rage against the Lord. It’s the Book of Job without the happy ending.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a reminder that as long as systemic racism endures there may not be a happy ending in plain sight. While we wait for a light to shine in the darkness, we listen to the blues and allow the music to carry us through to a brighter day.

Halo and Pitchfork Rating:

Three halos: Reflections on race, music, and power are interwoven in this adaptation of a noteworthy stage drama.
Four pitchforks: Strong pervasive profanity, recreational alcohol and marijuana use, two sexually explicit scenes, a disturbing childhood remembrance, acts of violence.

Comment:

Do you have comments about this movie or movie review? E-mail your comments. (Your name and UM affiliation must be supplied in order for your comments to be posted.)

 

≡
  • Current Review
  • Past Reviews

 

Bryant

Reviews by
Rev. Bruce Batchelor-Glader

COMMENTS! Do you have comments about this movie or movie review?
E-mail comments. (Comments will be posted to our web site.)

The East Ohio Conference Office:
located in North Canton, OH,
near Akron-Canton Airport.

Address:
8800 Cleveland Ave. NW
North Canton, OH 44720

Phones/Fax:
Local: (330) 499-3972
Toll Free: (800) 831-3972
Fax: (330) 499-3279

Office Hours:
Monday through Friday
8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

 

  • Facebook Instagram Twitter Vimeo Flickr

  • Bishop's Office
  • Districts and Churches
  • Conference Staff
  • POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:
  • Safe Sanctuaries
  • Sexual Ethics
  • CCLI & CVLI Licensing
  • Terms of Use Policies
  • RESOURCES:
  • Conference Journal
  • E-News
  • News Archives
  • Archives and History
  • EAST OHIO CONFERENCE
  • 8800 Cleveland Ave. NW
  • North Canton, OH 44720 Map
  • (800) 831-3972
  • www.eocumc.com

East Ohio Conference Logo© EAST OHIO CONFERENCE. All Rights Reserved.