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★★★★☆
7 December 2016
A movie review of BARRY. |
“They will never accept us,” Saleem (Avi Nash)
This is not a spoiler: His full name is not uttered until the end of the runtime. We keep waiting for it. The filmmakers tap into our desire to hear it. Why should we want someone to say who he is? The audience should be aware. The avoidance of label helps the project from falling into the category of cheesy TV-movie-of-the-week mush. In addition, its absence aids appraisal of the lead, to be considered as inhabiting the role rather than impersonation. You maybe wondering why the pondering of a name? The title makes us consider when and how did “Barry” become Barack Obama.
This is not a spoiler: His full name is not uttered until the end of the runtime. We keep waiting for it. The filmmakers tap into our desire to hear it. Why should we want someone to say who he is? The audience should be aware. The avoidance of label helps the project from falling into the category of cheesy TV-movie-of-the-week mush. In addition, its absence aids appraisal of the lead, to be considered as inhabiting the role rather than impersonation. You maybe wondering why the pondering of a name? The title makes us consider when and how did “Barry” become Barack Obama.
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From the world premiere in September, this film has become so much more relevant in the wake of the Trump election. The incumbent’s humanism and charm is in sharp contrast to how the president-elect is perceived by large swathes of the world. BARRY increases the melancholy since November, by highlighting what kind of person is being lost and replaced by. BARRY also perhaps enhances Obama’s legacy, reminding us of his impressiveness, though also making him human – not shying away from presenting (its version of) his flaws.
This is not hagiography. Are we not meant at times to be annoyed with his sullen demeanour? Barack Obama as THE CATCHER IN THE RYE’s Holden Caulfield. Do not worry, the portrayal is not of extreme apathy, it is rather the introspection of a young man’s formative year. Preoccupation with self is universally human. Doubt and frustration goes deeper for the intelligent, curious and educated – which is how Barry (Devon Terrell) comes across.
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The movie also taps into an audience resentment of having a beautiful woman devoted to the protagonist yet he not reciprocate. OPEN YOUR EYES/VANILLA SKY are predicated upon that. Though girlfriend Charlotte (Anya Taylor-Joy – THE WITCH) is, according to the production notes, “a composite of a number of different women Obama dated during his younger years”. Is Barack the first American president, since Kennedy, to be portrayed as a sexual being without needing a sick bag to imagine coitus? (Got to use a BIG BANG THEORY word.)
Barry’s mother Ann Dunham (Ashley Judd) is Caucasian and so is Charlotte, and his estranged father is black and he himself is viewed as such. University roommate Will (Ellar Coltrane – BOYHOOD) states that as Barry is mixed race he has the best of both worlds, while the film (until the conclusion) counters that he does not. One question the film poses: How do you reconcile how the world views you, with how you want to be viewed, with how you view yourself and how you want to view yourself? No easy answer is proffered. (Self-acceptance is arguably the beginning of solving that conundrum.)
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A large part of the joy of BARRY is watching the (slight) evolution of Barry’s personality. (One must try and remember this movie is a supposition.) The film is skilfully intimate and therefore at times feels guiltily, compellingly voyeuristic. This unflappable man, who has that rare quality of a person, let alone a politician: Calmness. To pull back the veil, to witness his trademark serene and self-assurance come together, fascinates.
A story dealing with race does not gloss over everyday racism, from profiling by a campus security guard to an assumption in a bathroom at a private members club. Notably Barry chooses not to mention the latter – his burgeoning diplomacy and inscrutability hinted at.
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Superior to the other 2016 Barack Obama flick, SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU, BARRY is a grower even though not showy. The narrative directorial debut of Vikram Gandhi, the feature-writing debut of Adam Mansbach, and the lead’s cinema acting debut are all assured.
Like the best specific stories, BARRY taps into the universal. Anyone who feels out of place, especially second-generation immigrants, will appreciate and understand the movie. (Ang Lee’s entire body of work could be argued to be about that.) Barry’s self-analysis is often focused on being mixed race – a likely growing phenomenon, in light of increasing integration and globalisation, as well as the world shrinking due to social media and more affordable travel. Is it any coincidence that there have been three interracial dramas this year (LOVING, A UNITED KINGDOM), all based on real stories?
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