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Last week, moviemaker George Lucas sounded the clarion horns. All of the major Hollywood studios rejected his new film, Red Tails, he said, because the cast was “all-black.” If Red Tails crashes at the box office, there will be more than just a bunch of trite, plane crash-themed news headlines. Lucas predicts that Hollywood will be even less likely to trust actors of color with blockbuster movies in the future.

The argument goes that anyone who cares about diversity in movies should go see Red Tails this weekend. It’s admittedly somewhat of a hostage situation, since supporting Red Tails also means financially rewarding the same system that refused even a single cent for a film about the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. (Blown off by Hollywood, George Lucas paid for the entire movie himself–down to the print sitting in the projection room at your local cinema.) Hollywood rejected a film produced by the most lucrative producer in history, simply because they couldn’t wrap their minds around the color of his actors.

And they’re great actors, the thesps in Red Tails, Academy Award veterans and newbies alike. While Terrence Howard competently delivers Pentagon exposition scenes and Cuba Gooding Jr. gnaws on his pipe and briefs the troops, the standouts are the younger generation of black actors showcased in the film: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man, Kevin Phillips, Andre Royo, Ne-Yo (yup, with a very fun character), Elijah Kelley, Marcus T. Paulk, Leslie Odom Jr., and Michael B. Jordan. It isn’t easy to act against a green screen with a fighter pilot mask covering half the face, but these actors pull it off. You can see them sweat, and their desperation and determination.

Cuba Gooding Jr., Elijah Kelley, Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds and Michael B. Jordan

It is a good film, but there are flaws that keep Red Tails from becoming a great movie, including the extremely noticeable exclusion of women of color–not only the wives of the Tuskegee airmen and the army nurses who patched the wounded, but also the female pilots. ( Jazmine Sullivan’s role as pilot Deborah Gannett was completely cut from the film.) Red Tails is not particularly deep. Nor is it Saving Private Ryan, Glory, or The Help. It is not meant to be a tearjerker abut the bleakness of war or black people teaching white people very important lessons about racism. The lone black guy does not die first. For a Hollywood blockbuster, that alone makes it unique.

At least a third of the film is filled with World War II dogfighting. If you’re into special effects–particularly sound mixing–these scenes are fantastically choreographed, particularly for a film with only a $68 million budget. The scenes reminded me of the Death Star trench run in Star Wars–if the targets were more interesting and the audience actually cared about the characters. (Porkins, we hardly knew ye.) In Red Tails, the characters are war movie one-note, but that didn’t keep the audience from worrying about whether or not they would make it. The script, written by John Ridley (U-Turn) and spruced up by Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks) makes it easy to relate to and understand the characters. When a character’s life is at risk, director Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Treme, Battlestar Galactica), bolstered by Terence Blancard’s soundtrack, skillfully draws out the tension. The audience I was with laughed with the characters as their planes streaked through the sky and gasped when their lives were put at risk.

The film isn’t a history lesson about the Tuskegee Airmen. Instead, it attempts to capture the idealistic and patriotic spirit of the young men who served in the European theater. The characters in the film are not named or portrayed after historical figures. Instead, they are archetypes for the various experiences faced by the soldiers in the 92nd, 332nd, and other segregated troops.

There’s the straight-laced, determined Captain Martin “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker), and his reckless hotshot wingman, Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo.) The conflict between the two best friends is supposed to evoke the differing ideologies of Martin Luther King and Malcom X. Other events in the film are based on incidents that happened to black soldiers in Europe. There’s the soldier who has a love affair with an Italian signorina (Daniela Ruah) unburdened by racism he would have faced in the United States for dating a white woman. There are the prisoners of war and the soldiers wounded in combat, the soldiers who provided ground support and repairs, the soldiers who protected American bombers, the soldiers who strafed a German destroyer, and the soldiers who took down German ME-262 jets.

There are the black soldiers who fought to enter an all-white officer’s club, treated as second class citizens by their own countrymen. In this story, after the Red Tails prove their flying prowess and value to their fellow troops, the white officers warmly embrace them and offer to buy them drinks.

In a way, that’s the message George Lucas is trying to send, too. That if enough people go see Red Tails, this will somehow prove the value of actors of color in starring vehicles to the Hollywood establishment. This is a pretty idealistic argument. If Red Tails does exceptionally well, will Hollywood suddenly want to open its exclusive club? Dozens of films with black actors have heralded this change, performed well at the box office, and stalled out on the same hopes. If Red Tails bombs, are actors of color really doomed? Black cinema has been around since the silent film era; it is resilient, and in no way hanging by a thread off George Lucas’s coattails.

The myth is that if Red Tails bombs, it’s our fault, because we didn’t throw enough money at Hollywood to persuade them to let black actors into the officer’s club. Certainly not the fault of studios that continue to whitewash roles or close doors. Certainly not the fault of any studio executive who would blather about financial viability and cling to the shortcomings of any one film to keep holding the door shut.

You should go see and support Red Tails not out of obligation nor fear that Hollywood will give up on actors of color. See it because you want to see a fun action movie with heroes of color. We fight, we fight, we fight.

Categories: blog, Current Diversity Highlights, Featured