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Ugh. More evidence that Armond's view of his role is to be contrarian at all costs.

Gotta love Armand... but the thing is that if you've met Whitaker, you know that he's very much like those other characters in person... a really sweet, soft-spoken and intelligent guy... he is NOTHING like Idi Amin. I think that's why he's getting the attention for it. (Having seen Catch A Fire finally, I'm not nearly as impressed with Derek Luke's performance, though there are a few moments opposite Tim Robbins that are fairly memorable.)

I haven't seen the movie, but the trailer did make me wonder why so many movies about Africa or Africans are actually about white people, which is somewhat problematic. (I could mention a title or two from the last year.)

Even if I don't necessarily agree with him, at least Armond White always puts thought into the intent and ramifications of the movies he watches. I mostly agree with his comments on this one--the complete absence of Ugandan perspective and fictional central White Man character are problematic. However, I don't agree that the kudos Whitaker is getting for his fine portrayal are racially biased in any way. It is the two "lead" performances that really save the movie from mediocrity. The fact that he has given non-Oscar-nominated stand-out performances in the past is really beside the point.

It's the showiness of the role that gets attention, not some confirmation of white America's racist id. It's no different than every time Sean Penn gets awards attention-- he knows how to ham it up.

Jeff makes a good point, by the way. I've noticed that, too.

That's nothing new. Hollywood, while being made up of self-professed liberals, have a long history of making films about historical black events using white leads. "Cry Freedom," "Ghosts of Mississippi," "Amistad" and "Mississippi Burning" immediately pop into my head. Hell, the white lead in "The Last King of Scotland" is MADE UP.

Eric said exactly what I was thinking - it has nothing to do with anything except its a 'showy' role that doesnt cross over into melodrama or ridicule.

For my money, Ghost Dog is still his best performance (and film).

Okay, having seen the movie I have to disagree with Mr. White on several points. First off, I didn’t mind the white protagonist. He’s an outsider. He’s us, the viewer who presumably has as much experience w/ the country as the white doctor. His journey from naivete to willful ignorance to impotent outrage/self-loathing is the major thread of the movie. Doesn’t he in a sense represent how most of the Western world has pretty much ALWAYS viewed Africa and all her countries? So we need him in a sense.

What movie that explores something foreign doesn’t give the viewer an entry-way? How is the doc’s character arc any different from Schindler’s in Schindler’s list outside of race? Anyway, I’m also a black man and I didn’t take offense to the filmmakers showing 70’s Uganda with its mix of poverty, modernity and tribalism. What should they have done, just pretended that people didn’t (and still do) live in villages and dress in traditional garb? Also, Idi Amin was a real life monster. Whitaker goes a long way to humanize him, but he’s still a monster at the end of the day. His performance is great. Just because he plays a villain, doesn’t mean there are racial undertones (although, I agree with Armond on Training Day and I’m quite ambivalent about Howard’s turn as a pimp/aspiring rapper in Hustle and Flow). I hope to hear Forest Whitaker’s name called come Oscar night.

I was always a fan of his subtle turn in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

(Seriously, though, his work on the most recent season of "The Shield" was excellent).

I love Armond White. For every insane, half baked notion he puts out there, he comes up with cogent ideas and thoughts as he has here. I actually agree with him. Black film is either the black man as a "scary" character or an Uncle Tom/minstrel show.

I mean, that's a total exaggeration. But if there's anything in between, it usually goes to Denzel.

Djimon Hounsou is the lead in Amistad and he's not white.

I get what White is saying, and yes, it sheds a light on critics and audiences tendancy to disregard nice guys and focus on the flashier bad guy roles...

But it makes no sense whatsoever to disregard Whitaker's performance because of a larger issue with Hollywood or critics...

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater...

Or better yet, don't hate the playa, hate the game...

I thought AMISTAD had multiple storylines and Hounsou's role was the lead in the slave POV part of the film?

Amistad has a single sprawling storyline with an ensemble cast, and McConaughey, Freeman, and Hopkins all have their moments, but Hounsou is the glue that holds the movie together, narratively. And he gives the best performance in the movie, too.

Hounsou was dumped from the third act of Gladiator... still pissed about that.

Word is that he may be the power role in support in Blood Diamond.

Who said this: "Idi Amin really was a mad man. And in order for us to have a rich emotional experience with the McAvoy character - the lead - the horror of what he is getting involved with has to be apparent no later than the second act of the film. We, as the audience, have to be holding him accountable. And we don't. Not really. We all know that Amin is nuts. We saw it on TV. But the movie seems willing to pretend he might not be, allowing him room by way of his childishness. Then, in the last 20 minutes… hell on earth."

Notwithstanding all the truth already said here, I think people (the movie going public) are responding well to the film because (they don't know it, but) it's got craft, hat off to the director for knowing how. If people want to hand it to Whitaker, I’m sure Kevin Macdonald has the patience to wait.

I give up, who?

Fine, then Denzel is the lead in "Cry Freedom." But it's still a movie about Steven Biko headlining Kevin Kline, and "Amistad" is still a movie about slavery in which the prominent face on the poster is Matthew McConaughey.

http://www.impawards.com/1997/amistad_ver2.html

And wasn't Anthony Hopkins the one nominated for an Oscar.

Oscar smoshkur, I have no idea. The Last King of Scotland quote BTW was from DP, The Hot Button, dig the Odd Times for Indie Films column from Friday BTW.

unfortunately its seems to always about a white person. a film doesn't have to have "white" leads. The non-white leads thing hasn;t been tested enough with real pictures of quality (just 'ghetto' pictures) with exception, a couple pics with Denzel and Will Smith. re. Africa related pics...I loved Constant gardener but it would have been just as valid if Tess were a mixed race/or African descent Londoner "limousine liberal". She would have behaved the same and she would have ended up the same.

I would have been happier if Last King of Scotland had a UK national of African descent instead of a white Uk national. Why not? The culture clash would have been the same.

Smoke signals, Love and Basketball, should have, could have found a wider audience. They weren;t marketed to do so.

I think most people are willing to see a movie that has a story they can relate to--it doesn;t have to be a contrived "race" issue to relate to but it still seems to be "allowed". One of the reasons I really disliked Crash (the contrived nature of it), but like my best pal who is African Am says "at least we got some parts in a big Hollywood picture". Lord have mercy.

At least Bubba Ho-Tep had a black man playing JFK, but they still featured Elvis more.

^^^"it would have been just as valid if Tess were a mixed race/or African descent Londoner"

no, the movie would have been _more_ valid, as it is it's a movie about Africa starring troubled white people.

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