Bamboozled

source: Bamboozled

Trailer—Bamboozled

Bamboozled

Bamboozled is the story of Pierre Delacroix, a Harvard educated writer who is ripped for his Cosbyesque ideas that lead to cancellation. Michael Dunwitty claiming to be "blacker than you Delacroix" and can "Say the word n*@&a, I have a black wife and have 2 biracial kids" So he goes in the opposite direction and revives a minstrel show, thinking it will be so offensive that it will be canceled. Much to his chagrin the minstrel show Delacroix puts up is actually a hit. The movie starts from there, as it is mired in controversy and has reactions from both sides of the spectrum (extreme love to extreme hate) references to black power make their way into the movie Biting satire about how America doesn't really want to see intelligent black characters on TV.

In an interview, Spike Lee said that he had always wanted to make a movie about the portrayal of blacks in popular media. Believe it or not, "Bamboozled" actually manages to pull it off. Making fun of the black-face minstrel image of African-Americans, you are never sure whether or not you want to laugh. Overall, I think that the message that we should take from it relates to the portrayals of all minorities, many of which mirror Nazi portrayals of Jews. If nothing else, it's interesting to see Damon Wayans in this kind of role, considering how most of his movies so far have been pretty silly. The rest of the cast also does a pretty good job.

All credit to Spike Lee for one of the boldest movies ever. I saw this awhile ago, and also enjoyed the searing commentary from Spike Lee on DVD. The send-up of the Ving Rhames-Jack Lemmon award scene was something to behold, and highlights the racial servitude that Spike aims to poke in the eye big time.

I wish I could have seen this in the theater back in 2000. Sadly, I lived 200 miles away from a theater at the time. Regardless, this is a raw, honest open movie about the black community that should be seen by everyone.

Being white, and european, I'm not really sure about the point of this movie seen in an american perspective. But as a european it really opened my eyes to a strange fact: if your only knowledge about black America comes from television, you WOULD really think, that all afro-americans were gangsters, rappers or Urkel-like comedians, that is: stereotypes. You very rarely see an american show, or movie, where a black american is portrayed as a complex human being. And that really IS scary.