The movie “A Family Thing” is about two long lost brothers in the United States who after such a long time get to meet each other. The brothers are James Earl and Robert Duvall who are of a poignant and compelling family. The movie centers on a white southerner who is shocked after realizing that his biological mother was black. The film gives the depiction of a true meaning for real brotherhood in the United States. The film gives a chronology of events that bridges two racial groups in the United States and making them to accept each other as brothers that truly they were, biologically (Soul Brothers (A FAMILY THING) | Jonathan Rosenbaum). The gap is gradually fixed between the two brothers over a period of several days.
The revelations of the race of Earl however has a high toll on him. He could not believe that the people he despised were actually his biological family. By using the character of Earl as that of a white man, the movie seeks to achieve the moral and ethical standards of a reconciliatory movie. The film is a close resembles to the movie “Shadows” by John Cassavette, which also seeks to highlight the racial intolerance in America (Soul Brothers (A FAMILY THING) | Jonathan Rosenbaum).
The film stars James Earl and Robert Duvall, as Arkansas residents who are half-brothers, growing up in two racial divides of the United States. In the film, the two characters display their talents in long conversations that are associated with troubling undercurrents. The acting is well coordinated and the actors seem to enjoy their own individual works of talent. The film is based on racial prejudice and reconciliation, directed by Richard Pearce, being a derivation of an original play by Tom Epperson and Thornton. The movie belongs to a class of movies with a tradition of moral drama such as “Driving Missy Daisy” (Holden, Film Review; Brothers, Race and Reconciliation). The movie duels on belief suspension and seeks to bring out the lessons that come from forgiveness and self-discovery.
The film gives a leap of faith when through a posthumous letter, Earl Pilcher learns that the woman she had thought all along as being his mother, was not actually his real mother. He learns that his biological mother was a former slave who died during his birth. He leant that his father had raped her biological mother, and that’s when he came to be (Holden, Film Review; Brothers, Race and Reconciliation). On her deathbed, his mother wrote a wish letter. The letter gives direction to earl to go and find his black blood-brother who is a policeman in Chicago. The reverend who delivers the letter says, "Nobody knew, because you came up white. Willie Mae died having you. I was right there" (A Family Thing Movie Review & Film Summary (1996) | Roger Ebert). With a lot of shock, he travels north of Chicago by his old pickup truck. Earl was however attacked and mugged in the city.
Earl meets with Ray in when in a hospitalized condition after being attacked. It is from here that he is taken to a flat that Ray shared with his son, Michael Beach together with Irma P. Hall (who acts as Old Aunt T) (A Family Thing Movie Review & Film Summary (1996) | Roger Ebert). Due to the difficult circumstance of introducing a stranger to the old lad, Ray decides to wrongly introduce Earl as a former colleague in the army who had saved him during the war in Korea. However, the aunty is quick to note the foolery and immediately corrects with a harsh tone that she knew about Earl, Ray’s brother. Aunty T interjects by saying “Stop BS-ing me, Earl Pilcher-- I know all about your sorry half-black a--.” She exclaims further by saying “I love my sister and you her boy, I love you too” (A Family Thing Movie Review & Film Summary (1996) | Roger Ebert).
The aunty is closely focused on in the film, almost overshadowing the role of the main actors. It is the most exciting part of the film. She has a fierce timing and said just what needed to be said at the right moment. Aunt T. is a character who is seen to have the moral authority with reference to her character that comes out She says, "I don't have the blessing of being able to separate people out by looking at them no more" (A Family Thing Movie Review & Film Summary (1996) | Roger Ebert). The old lady would occasionally demand that she accompany Duvall to the grocery. Duvall tried to play smart given the fact that the blind aunty had memorized every part of the streets.
Beach was brought down from his rising soccer star by a knee injury, I moment he loathes to remember. The movie then focuses on Earl as he explores the Chicago black neighborhood, self-consciously trying to imagine himself in the race he was born into (Holden, Film Review; Brothers, Race and Reconciliation). The movie here clearly depicts that Earl felt that he had missed something in his life; the feeling of growing up in the true identity of the race he was born from. This is backed by his attempt to join a group of blacks who are celebrating a birthday on the streets. Earl is however thrown out after misbehaving in the party. After being thrown out of the party, he spends his night in the cold with the homeless through a rainy night .The film further spends time on Earl as he familiarizes himself with his new home streets.
Later on, the movie depicts of scenes where the two brothers stop expressing prejudice towards each other. This is the point where humanity rules the defensive stances that the two had earlier on taken. The new found rapprochement between the Ray and Earl makes the film more credible. It is a life-lesson of how racially diverse people in the United States can overcome their differences and instead live as siblings.
Speeches of emotional touch are further elaborated when Mr. Jones confesses on how he deeply hated his half-brother who did not know him, but he, himself knew him. He also narrates on how he escaped from the life of self-destruction and crime (Holden, Film Review; Brothers, Race and Reconciliation). Earl who had come from the south, where there was high stakes for racism slowly came to accept his real racial identity. This is despite the fact that he initially was a racist by himself. This displayed the major undoing of racist tendencies in America. That they only are a mind creation. That racism is only a thought-about and self-made feeling towards a given racial group. The chronology of the life of Earl has proved that racism can be ended, especially with the tackling of perception at first.
Conclusion
The film “A Family Thing” is one exceptional script that is meant to address contemporary racial polarization in the United States. The movie seeks to solve this social issue by making racism appear among its characters as just a perception. According to the film, Earl was finally able to accept and resent the hatred he had for his brother Ray, and vice versa. This meant that racial prejudices in the United States were a creation of human minds rather than reality. Hence, this can be solved by awareness on racial equality.
Works Cited
Ebert R. A Family Thing Movie Review & Film Summary (1996) | Roger Ebert. Rogerebertcom. 2018. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-family-thing-1996. Accessed April 27, 2018.
Holden S. FILM REVIEW;Brothers, Race and Reconciliation. Nytimescom. 2018. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/29/movies/film-review-brothers-race-and-reconciliation.html. Accessed April 27, 2018.
Jonathanrosenbaumnet. 2018. Available at: https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1996/04/soul-brothers/. Accessed April 28, 2018.
