Rue (Diandra Forrest) has Albinism–and she’s struggling to fit in with those around her. She doesn’t feel white and she doesn’t feel black; she often feels like she doesn’t fit in with either group, and that has made her life incredibly difficult. She’s not sure what to make of herself, and she’s not entirely sure what to do with her life. This is a War of Colors, and Rue’s journey will be anything but simple.
This next comment will be harsh–so strap in. War of Colors embodies the thing that I’ve come to hate about film and television these days. It does all that it can to force an agenda, one particular point of view, down the throats of viewers. It’s unapologetic in its approach (which I commend to a degree), but using this approach will ruffle feathers, and it will be difficult for a lot of potential viewers to appreciate the film. I’m not sure that Writer-Director Emir Kumova is looking to make a ton of money, I’m not even sure that he’s looking for fame or recognition–what I believe he’s attempting to create is a film that can convey a message, prove a point, make a change. To a degree that happens, but his approach–force feeding his opinions and the opinions of one group of people down the throats of anyone willing to watch–is off putting, and I struggled greatly with War of Colors as a result.
Just the name, War of Colors, is divisive. And the rest of the film follows suit. It’s fairly obvious that Kumova doesn’t care about ruffling feathers, and that he plans to appeal to a very specific group of people–and that’s exactly what the film does. Almost from the opening moments, War of Colors looks to point out the issues that exist within each and every race–but as the film progresses it begins to isolate certain races, and the entire tone of the film shifts, and not in a good way. As the film progresses, it moves further and further from a place of balance–becoming something that many viewers will find frustrating.
I struggled, too, with the dialogue. It’s too direct at times, not making it feel honest, but rather cheesy. With that, the story becomes frumpy, even sloppy, and it becomes difficult to appreciate the narrative present in War of Colors. The film digs itself deeper and deeper as it progresses, and it’s never able to pull itself out of the deepening hole in which it exists.
The thing that keeps it from completely falling apart, from failing to entertain in any capacity, is one of the messages present–woven into the fabric of War of Colors. No matter who you are or where you come from, you understand the purpose of this film beyond what exists on the surface. Rue represents people that are ostracized for who they are, for what they look like–and she’s shown a way to accept herself, and to be comfortable with herself in her own skin. That message is important and it’s powerful–and it is sure to resonate with viewers. That’s the positive that War of Colors presents to viewers–and it’s one thing that allows the film to remain afloat.
War of Colors is what I’ve struggled with so greatly in cinema in the past few years. It harps on the ideas of race and struggle in a way that ostracizes viewers, that counts them out, that seems to turn certain groups of people away. I can’t get past this aspect of the film–but War of Colors struggles in other ways as well. It manages to redeem itself with one of the messages present in the film–but it’s not enough to really bring it to life, to give it purpose, to give a wide-ranging audience a reason to sit down and watch. War of Colors is a struggle from beginning to end, and I was never able to settle in enough to appreciate it as a whole.
Written & Directed by Emir Kumova.
Starring Diandra Forrest, Curtis J. McDaniel, Will Santiago, Adam Mendez Jr., Daniel Fitzgerald, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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