Soul Man (DVD)

.../>

Soul Man received a lot of abuse when it was released; people found it slanderous to the black community; but its that age old narrow minded view that causes half the troubles in this world that cause this perception. Soul Man is a very cleverly thought out movie about deception and the consequences of the said deception upon the innocents that surround.

Soul Man is not only a thoughtful piece of filmmaking; it's ...
...is victim of racism too. Soul Man does an amazing job of cutting away the normal perceptions of racism; and shows that despite how much you know someone; or think you know someone race issues can effect them stronger than you may realise.

Soul Man is without a doubt one of my favourite comedy movies of the 80's and I was absolutely thrilled by its release now.

Soul Man features an audio commentary with Steve Minor and ... more

Dear Reader, this is an updated review of a something I wrote a year ago; that review has been deleted by Ciao, and news I have received this week written at the end of this review means I feel the need to draw attention to the film so you can see it while you have the chance.

Mark Watson dreams of becoming Harvard law schools next big thing; despite achieving great scores on his exams he does not qualify for a scholarship. The other alternative is to earn his money; but this too fails. Almost without hope Mark prepares to give up his quest to enter Harvard and prepares to enter an alternate college.

On the day he is to accept his alternate location Mark notices something that makes him think; there is an available scholarship for underprivileged Black students. The big problem is that Mark is a white student. With little regard for his actions Mark overdoses on sun tan pills. And the following day he awakes a young talented black man.

Cast

C. Thomas Howell .... Mark Watson
Rae Dawn Chong .... Sarah Walker
Arye Gross .... Gordon Bloomfeld
Melora Hardin .... Whitney Dunbar
James Earl Jones .... Professor Banks
Linda Hoy .... Mrs. Sherwood
Leslie Nielsen .... Mr. Dunbar
Ann Walker .... Mrs. Dunbar
James Sikking .... Bill Watson (as James B. Sikking)
Max Wright .... Dr. Aronson
Julia Louis-Dreyfus .... Lisa Stinson

Soul Man received a lot of abuse when it was released; people found it slanderous to the black community; but its that age old narrow minded view that causes half the troubles in this world that cause this perception. Soul Man is a very cleverly thought out movie about deception and the consequences of the said deception upon the innocents that surround.

Soul Man is not only a thoughtful piece of filmmaking; it's also a very funny one. That stems from a time where humour was humour and you don't have to ridicule someone to get that comic effect. Made in 1986 the movie was backed up by comic masterpieces of the time Ferris Buellers Day Off, Back To The Future to name just two. Combine with the comedy and the serious side of the story a touching love story and you have a good all round hour and forty minutes of highly talented film making.

C. Thomas Howell takes on the lead role and plays this with both humour and warmth; it's highly amusing to see his character of Mark play out two lives as he needs to still have links with his old life while mixing with its new. Not helped by the fact that some people who arrive at Harvard know him of old.

But the real key part of this movie which was obviously strong in the mind of director Steve Miner is that racism is not always from the point of view of the white person; when Mark goes out into the world as a white man he is victim of racism too. Soul Man does an amazing job of cutting away the normal perceptions of racism; and shows that despite how much you know someone; or think you know someone race issues can effect them stronger than you may realise.

Soul Man is without a doubt one of my favourite comedy movies of the 80's and I was absolutely thrilled by its release now.

Soul Man features an audio commentary with Steve Minor and C. Thomas Howell. During this they discuss the prejudice shown to the movie particularly in respect of Christian towns where the film was regarded as scandalous and banned from cinemas. Through to its lack of television airplay around the world. They also tell the story of the 5 year battle to get the movie released on DVD; and the amount of retailers that even now refuse to stock it.

Soul Man is available from Play.com priced £11.99 and if you enjoyed those comedy movies of the mid 1980's I'm sure you'll love this.

So here is the update:-

From Monday 10th of September 2007 Soul Man officially becomes a banned movie in the UK. Despite the attempts of the movies producers, the releasing company, and people both black and white who believe in the importance of this movie, the powers that be; in this case the Government have intervened and decided that Soul Man is degrading to black people, and as a result should be removed from our shelves at the earliest opportunity. I strongly believe that the people that ultimately made the decision on this movie have never even seen the movie, because if they had they would have seen the two handed context in which the story is delivered. The movie if anything else is incredibly politically correct as it does show that people of all races can be on the receiving end of racist abuse.

Rather like Bah Bah Blacksheep, Minstrels, the term Pitch Black and Black Boards; Soul Man becomes a victim of censorship and for all the wrong reasons. If you get to see this movie if you have not already I'd strongly advise it, as funny as all those great classics of the 80's Soul Man will leave you with a lasting memory, and give you some side splitting laughs along the way. 

...less