Get on the Bus

Some may criticize the "stereotypical" treatment of the white characters, but this may be a bit much. The Jewish Bus driver is an honorable character, and in a scene with him and Charles Dutton, director Lee let's him speak his side of the story "OK, I may have some problems with blacks....but no more worse than the problems you have with whites. I don't have anything to prove to these guys". Randy Quade's redneck cop may have been over the top, but suffice to say, there are people in parts of America who still treat people that way.

Overall, I think this film is definitely Lee's most underrated work.

His worst: at times some of his films implode when Lee gets on his soapbox and goes too heavy-handed---the Message blots out the Movie. This happens towards the last one-third, with the last 10 minutes especially preachy and contrived. The film craft breaks down, characters and dialogue that before had been pretty much spot-on suddenly verge into labored allegory and caricature.

It's like Lee drew up a laundry list of Pressing Societal Problems (brings to mind Larwence Kasdan's "Grand Canyon") and tried to allot 5-10 minutes for each one. Sometimes he does so with grace and wit, but sometimes he stumbles into glibness and stereotyping.

I was a little disappointed that Lee didn't show more of the actual Million Man march, maybe explore the controversial Louis Farrakhan a little bit more deeply. I was however pleasantly surprisd that Lee does take a fairly mature, gutsy stand on homosexuality and homophobia absent in some of his earlier films.

Had Lee made this film more as a straight (or pointed) documentary rather than trying to turn it into a heavy-handed inspirational treatise, I'd gladly give it 5 plus stars. Even in its current form it's well worth watching.

The movie concentrates on a group of men leaving Los Angeles for the Nation's Capital. Charles Dutton is the intrepid, unofficial "leader" of the group and he tells the passengers as soon as they "get on the bus" that HE will be their mother AND their father for the next six days.

The men are a good cross section of people anywhere. They range in ages from 14-year-old Evan, Jr., sullen and angry about being handcuffed to his father under court order to senior citizen Ossie Davis ("Pop"). Pop is looked to for guidance and appears to take on the role of a benevolent father. His is the gentle voice of reason and his is one of unquestioning acceptance. When one man, a Muslim, criticizes a gay couple for their lifestyle, it is Pop who provides a calm defense on the couple's behalf.

I liked the way the men introduce themselves in song. A nod to Africa, the men use a "boom-chaka-laka" beat and introduce themselves in rhyme. It is funny and done in a humorous manner.

My favorite characters were Pop and a young, biracial police officer. He identifies strongly with his black heritage and, like his father, joins the police force. Like Pop, he, too, provides intelligent arguments for his position and offers a different perspective when confronted by his peers. For example, when one man describes a childhood beating by belt he received for lying, the officer describes a stern talking to and a month long grounding he got for stealing from a store. The other men look at him aghast -- he had a mother who didn't beat him? The officer explained yet again that although he had a white mother, he was still black and he still identified strongly with his black heritage. He reminded everyone on the bus yet again that being black is congenital and not contingent upon speech mannerisms and behaviors. One is either black or they are not. He was right.

I laughed at the 1970s James Brown classic, "Papa Don't Take No Mess," which the men insisted upon listening to shortly after the bus left the Los Angeles Depot. "Papa was a man/Who understands/That a man's got to do whatever he can./Hit me!/Papa Don't Take No Mess." The song tied in perfectly with the arguments about beatings that both sides presented on the bus.

Another part that made me laugh was when the Million Man Marchers threw a loudmouthed, pompous, crass car salesman off the bus after he made a few too many inappropriate remarks. Seems the car salesman had riled the folks bound for D.C. and they decided they weren't going to take him anymore, so they ousted him from the bus.

It was a long, bumpy ride to D.C., but once there, Pop's heart started acting up....

This was truly an excellent movie and the film footage of the real Million Man March that was included in this film was a very effective touch.