Saturday, July 08, 2006

A Soldier's Story - 1984

This movie takes place in the south during WWII. The opening scene is in a roadhouse blues club. A black Sergeant (Adolph Caesar) walks drunkenly walks back to the base but never makes it there. His body is found beaten and shot twice.
The movie takes the form of a whodunit. Was it the klan? Or some of the white soldiers? Or was it one of his own unit, another black soldier?
A black Captain (Howard E Rollins Jr) is sent down from Washington to investigate. Almost everyone assumes (or is afraid) that he'll accuse some of the white folks in town. Obstacles are thrown in his way. The powers-that-be want the whole thing to go away.
The story is told through a series of interviews and flashbacks. It's adapted from a stage play and it shows in the setup. It's extremely well done. I didn't have high hopes for this movie going in and I came out very impressed. The acting is superb. The story is much better than I'd expected.
There are a few scenes with music from Patti LaBelle that are top notch blues. But the score is pretty bad. Herbie Hancock wrote the music. It sounds like occasional music from a mid 80's tv action/drama.
A very good movie.

No comments: