The Best of Enemies 2019

     This film is inspired by true events recorded in the novel The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson.  The time period is 1971, Ann Atwater is a civil rights activist in her town of Durham, North Carolina.  Ann is opposed in her views by C.P. Ellis, he is Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan.  The subject is the issue of school integration.  The school where the black children attend catches fire and the town will vote on these children attending the school where the white children go.  Bill Riddick sets up a meeting with Ann and C.P.  Bill wants to oversee charettes.  If Ann and C.P. agree, there will be meetings to discuss segregation and other important issues.  Random people are selected from a group of the town residents to serve on a panel to vote on the issues at the end of the meetings.  C.P.  is sure he already knows how he feels about this issue!!  Ann thinks there isn't any way to change C.P.'s mind!!  Some of the people on the panel are pressured about how they will vote by members of the Klan.

 

     The panel votes on all the of the selected issues and the last vote is the vote for integration.  Both sides are at opposite ends of the spectrum on their votes!!  Things begin to happen in the town other than the pressure from the Klan.  C.P. has a son with Down's Syndrome and he needs help at the home where he is living.  Is there a chance someone in the town will help C.P.  Could be?  Is there any way that Bill can get agreements from the panel to settle these issues?  Racism and segregation cause severe harm to America's black citizens.  Their textbooks were older and less are provided to the students than at the white schools.  As a result, the black students are receiving a less valuable education.  This would usually cause them to receive offers from lower paying jobs and probably changing the course of their lives.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie) 

     

133 min, Bio directed by Robin Bissel, written by Robin Bissel and Osha Gray Davidson with Taraji P. Henson, Sam Rockwell, Babou Ceesay, Anne Heche, Wes Bently, Nick Searcy, Bruce McGill, John Gallagher Jr., Nicholas Logan, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Caitlin Mehner, Dolan Wilson, Morgan Makey, Kendall Ryan Sanders, Chris Cavalier.

Note:  Imdb 7 out of 10, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 58 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 54% critic 76% audience, Roger Ebert 1/2* Odie Henderson (too much emphasis on the Klan), Indie Wire Grade B-, Letterboxd average 3.1*, Metacritic 49 out of 100 with 25 critics (11 positive, 9 mixed, 5 negative) 6.1 out of 10 user score (10 positive, 4 mixed, 4 negative), Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen age 12+ 2* out of 5*, 3* positive, 3* role, 2* violence, 1* sex, 4* language, 2* consumerism, 2* drinking, drugs & smoking.

Special Note:  Filmed in Atlanta, Cartersville, Macon Georgia.  Some bar scenes were shot at the American Legion in Tucker, Georgia.  The restaurant scene was shot at Ross's Diner in Cartersville, Georgia.  Sam Rockwell and Bruce McGill previously worked together in Matchstick Men 2003.  The estimated budget was $10 million and the gross was $10,209,813.  Taraji P. Henson doesn't look anything like the characters she usually plays!!  She has a short haircut, no makeup and she is on the plump side with matronly dresses.