PLEASE, BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW, UNDERSTAND THAT THIS FILM’S STORY IS CONTROVERSIAL AND THAT IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE, YOU SHOULD AVOID THIS POST: First of all, the wig that Tyler James Williams’ character, Lionel Higgins, wears is atrocious; I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a wig look so bad before. What baffled me from the start of the film was Tessa Thompson’s character, Samantha White. Clearly, director and writer Justin Simien chose the surname “White” for a reason. I felt that the last name, however, did the opposite of what the character tried so hard to convey. It seemed that her last name actually connected her to the white population, something that the character, quite regularly, attempted to separate herself from. Along with the fact that she tried, tirelessly (at least while in the public eye), to prove to the rest of the characters and the audience that she was not part of the Caucasian population, it seemed that she was actually quite racist at times. On top of this, she was sexually involved with Justin Dobies, Gabe; I struggled to understand how she can play both sides (victim and conqueror). As I made my way through the film, I struggled to understand its true meaning. It seemed that, based on the title and the events that took place early on (including Sam White’s radio show, “Dear White People”), that the film was meant to tell its audience how Caucasians were racist toward African-Americans; but, after the first ten minutes or so, this no longer seemed to be the case. The theme quickly changed to everyone screwing over everyone else. Multiple African-Americans cheated on their Caucasian significant others and multiple Caucasians refused to allow African-Americans in their building or to participate in predominantly white activities. Along with what appeared to be racism, African-Americans treated one another terribly and the same was true of Caucasians. The only character that I actually appreciated was Malcolm Barrett’s Helmut West. While the character of Helmut West was not the nicest person, he was the most honest and down to earth. It was his job to recruit students for reality television, and with this, he made a point to be completely honest (and realistic) at all times. By the end of the film, it was made clear that Sam White and her group of friends were, in many ways, the antagonists of this film. They cheat, they lie and they do whatever they need to in order to get their point across (which, considering their methods, was actually very far from the truth). I was, ultimately, not a fan of this film. The individual stories that were told were unappealing due to the fact that many of them were fabricated. There was very little sense of honesty in this film and that turned me off to the film and the story. I feel that I will most likely avoid this film in the future. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2235108/?ref_=nv_sr_2
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