It’s doubtful Red Tails will do anything for perceptions or Civil Rights, and in a way, that’s a good thing. “Blacks were fighter pilots in World War II.” “Yeah, so …” Racism will never die, but we’ve come far enough that a tale like this can seem blasé. Hence, we can evaluate it on its merits, good and bad. Dr. King would be so proud.
I especially enjoyed the scene in which Junior (Tristan Wilds) is captured behind enemy lines; the officer representing Stalag 18 specifically requests inclusion of Junior to his gang of lily-white POWs. Why? “You’re obviously not a German spy.” Stands to reason. Although in the following scenes, I half expected a second “separate-but-equal” escape tunnel from the camp just for the lone black prisoner.
A little bit of background is necessary to get what’s going on: During World War II, the Tuskegee Institute set out to prove African Americans were capable fighter pilots, contrary to accepted belief. The project that ensued eventually led to a base of all black pilots, mechanics, officers and random personnel set up in Italy. This is where our story begins. Up until 1944, the achievements of this particular operation were the wartime equivalent of giving a participation trophy to all the kids who showed up for little league. Not their fault, of course. All the planes were hand-me-downs … as were their missions.
It is worth note that while this seems an incredible waste of potential weaponry for the war effort, so is the “Don’t-ask-don’t-tell” policy that keeps homosexuals out of the military now. I see no difference.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Hey Jim, was the film any good?” Oh, sorry. Mixed bag. In an effort to get an all-black cast, there’s an eclectic mix of good actors and bad actors. Unfortunately, some of the bad acting goes hand-in-hand with unbelievably hackneyed dialogue. The two leads are both in the “good actor” camp. They are also horrible clichés – Captain Julian (Nate Parker) is a heavy drinker while flying ace Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo) defies all the rules, only playing the game on his own terms, he’s a free soul, a lone wolf, a sin- sorry, even my clichés are cliché — and thus we prove war clichés transcend race. I feel so enlightened! Seriously, do robots write wartime scripts? Shame, because I love Aaron McGruder’s comic strip The Boondocks.
It’s harder to enjoy the rare moments of quality acting/writing when cliché becomes the norm. Lightning’s romance of an Italian woman, for instance, might have seemed more heart felt if he didn’t follow up her “I love you” with a race-inspired bar brawl at the Whites Only Officer’s Club. Say, how do romance someone who doesn’t speak your language, anyway? Despite Love Actually’s efforts, I never quite got a good answer to that.
Thanks, I’m guessing, to Industrial Light and Magic, the combat missions in Red Tails were all quite good. Thus, Red Tails becomes a bit like the original Rollerball and its ilk – if you can pace yourself and tolerate the down time in-between action scenes, you might enjoy this one.
Rated PG-13, 125 Minutes
D: Anthony Hemingway
W: John Ridley and Aaron McGruder
Genre: Civil rights in wartime
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: NAACP members
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The Klan
