Moonlight deserves its Oscar wins – it’s the best and blackest movie of the year
It portrayed black people in a way rarely seen in Hollywood
Last night, at 1am, out of respect and reverence for the culture-shifting work of art that it is, and in honor of its historic Oscar win, I watched Barry Jenkins’ cinematic tour de force Moonlight.
It won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Mahershala Ali took Best Supporting Actor (he is the first Muslim actor in history to win an Oscar). Moonlight is segmented into three distinct acts and follows its main character, Chiron, at three pivotal moments in his life: as a young boy, as a teenager, and as a grown man. It’s about being different and how that manifests in a person as they grow up.
Many of the headlines today will be centered around the unprecedented mix-up last night, that was handled with a great deal of poise and class in my opinion, where La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture instead of Moonlight. But the real focus should be on what that movie was able to achieve. And also the realization I had this morning because of it.
Moonlight does not have one single white person in the entire movie. Not even white extras. I didn’t realize this until I thought about it this morning. The film is utterly devoid of any Caucasians and I didn’t notice because the movie immerses you in the story about these characters from the first minute. It didn’t have to make references about being black or about white people.
They didn’t have to remind the audience that the people in the movie were black because they so clearly were. Instead the audience got to see these characters portrayed as people, imperfect and flawed, yet beautiful in their own individual way, trying to navigate life, love, and growing up.
We didn’t have to sift through the stereotypes that are usually heaped upon characters in Hollywood movies that have a predominantly black cast because these characters were all of us. This was an American coming of age story featuring a cast of solely black actors and it portrayed black people in a way that I have rarely if ever seen in Hollywood.
Because of that, this could be the blackest movie I have ever seen. And I am in love with it, it’s story, and it’s characters. And I would feel this way with or without validation from the Academy.
Reminder: Tomorrow is the last day of Black History Month.