Between the World and Me
SPECIAL: HBO; Nov. 21
STARRING: Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Susan Kelechi Watson, Wendell Pierce, Yara Shahidi, Jharrell Jerome, Oprah Winfrey
IN HBO’S ADAPTATION of “Between the World and Me,” Ta-nehisi Coates’ book of recollections, heartbreaks and historical conclusions become monologues performed by actors like Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali and Oprah Winfrey. Directed by Kamilah Forbes, with archival montages and gorgeous cinematography by Bradford Young, this visual version of “Between the World and Me” is as dense and vast as the book that inspired it. When Coates first decided to pen a letter to his 15-year-old son, the news was reporting yet another endless, familiar cycle. “This was the year you saw Eric Garner choked to death,” he writes. “You have seen men in uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice … you know now, if you did not before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body.” As written, Coates’ visceral fear is extremely personal and widely applicable. As performed in this televised version by well over a dozen actors, his story flattens into something broader and more diffuse. It takes a minute to adjust to watching so many speakers (all filmed in August in their homes according to COVID-19 protocols). Something is lost in the translation between page and screen when dependent upon this many performers; their interpretations are powerful but scattered, and it’s hard not to wonder if a pared-down version might have been more effective. But it’s even harder to imagine which speakers should’ve been cut. Bassett is thoroughly commanding, Ali downright mesmerizing and executive producer Susan Kelechi Watson compelling in her portion on Howard University (Coates’ “Mecca”). When Phylicia Rashad takes the role of a mother grieving her son, it’s difficult to see anyone else trying it. Throughout the book, Coates shares with his son the experiences that disillusioned him to “the Dream” white suburban kids got to live while he dodged systemic violence in Baltimore. He weaves a damning portrait of his country, built on the literal backs of his enslaved ancestors, and shares his fury at realizing just how little privileged white “Dreamers” are motivated to change it. “I do not believe we can stop [the Dreamers],” he wrote in 2015, “because they must ultimately stop themselves.” In 2020, the America he described is all too accurate. The Dreamers didn’t stop themselves; they elected Donald Trump president. So, sure, many things have changed since “Between the World and Me” was published — but then again, from where Coates was writing, not really. Police violence against Black people still happens regularly, and still yields precious few consequences if any at all. Coates anticipated this, and so HBO’S “Between the World and Me” barely has to alter anything to remain infuriatingly timely.