MOVIE REVIEW: Go See "The Best of Enemies! ... Seriously, It Is Awesome
April 7, 2019
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By: Kathy Rupert-Mathews
Go see "The Best of Enemies!"
Seriously it is awesome. We need this story now!
It is a totally true story. You get to see and hear the real people who are portrayed, at the end of the movie. Ann Atwater, played by an almost unrecognizable Taraji P. Henson, is a social activist in Durham, NC in 1971. She takes on everyone else?s problems. It is a very racist community with the KKK being extremely powerful. She is a force to be reckoned with herself.
At the beginning you meet her as she stands up to an unconcerned councilman about how a slum lord is treating his tenants. You meet her children in her modest home. Soon you meet C.P. Ellis, played by Sam Rockwell. He is the president of the local KKK. He also has a family consisting of his wife, played by Anne Heche, and three sons, one of whom is living in a mental health hospital. He owns a local gas station and refuses to sell to blacks.
Things come to a head when the black elementary school accidentally burns. The children have nowhere to go so the blacks start pushing for school integration. Remember this is 1971 and the reactions will send your hair on end as will the language. As a solution to the problem a professor, Bill Riddick played by Babou Creesay, from another town is brought in to lead a charette.
It is a problem solving situation that demands an equal number of people from both sides come together to work out a solution which is voted on and the people must abide by the decision. Ann and C.P are chosen by Riddick to be the leaders on both sides. The animosity is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
The acting is excellent, Academy Award level. The movie should also be nominated. There are places for chuckles and horror and tears.
It is an amazing true story and I want to read the book. It is so powerful. It is a movie you want to talk about afterwards.
So go. Have fun. Eat popcorn.
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