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Get on the Bus, 1996, 120 minutes, Rated R
By Steven Fullwood
October 16, 1995 marked the historic day when a million black men descended on
the nation's capital for a “Day of Atonement” and reconciliation. Nation of
Islam leader and organizer of the Million Man March, Louis Farrakhan asked the men in
attendance to take a pledge that outlined a life of spiritual, mental, social, political,
economic and moral uplift and health for the entire community.
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In keeping this
pledge, one-year later to the day, "Get On the Bus" is
released. Directed by Spike Lee and written by Reggie Rock Bythewood,
the film is a fictionalized account of a cross-country bus trip of
about 20 men on their way to the nation's capital to participate in
the monumental march.
On board for the ride is an aggregate
group emblematic of the black male body politic. There's a hyper-masculine man (Andre
Braugher), two openly gay men (Isaiah Washington, Harry Lennix), a biracial police officer
who identifies as black (Roger Guenveur Smith), a gang-banger turned community activist
(Gabriel Casseus), a bright-eyed college student (Hill Harper), a wise, wisdom-spouting
elder (Ossie Davis), a verbose fatherly figure (Charles S. Dutton) and an acerbic
Republican (Wendell Pierce).
As the bus chugs along, a budding filmmaker (the college student) asks each man why he is
going. Everyone tends to overstate his case. For the most of the film, no one talks--they
preach long soliloquies about how rough it is to be a black man in America.
But given the film's sincerity, that's fine. What distinguishes the film is its
earnestness. So what if the writer and director overreached by touching on so many
subjects that it loses some of its intended potency? So what if irritating harmonica music
comes on every time Ossie Davis starts talking? So what if you hear “just let him
be” enough times to make your head ache? More diverse images of black men on
celluloid you won't find anywhere. Equally heroic is that the film was financed by 15
black men (including Danny Glover, Will Smith and Johnnie Cochran) and featured a
soundtrack full of black men, most notably Michael Jackson and Babyface.
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The main metaphor that drives the film is
captured in the father and son pairing. At the film's onset, a reemerged father tells his
beshackled son (they are linked together literally) that the reason they are going to this
march is in order to be better men than they were before. Each male is encouraged to set
aside their differences to bring about positive change for the community. The fact that
this busload never gets to the march, but is changed by the experience just the same, is a
testament to their solidarity and ethic of care. This, and other magical moments, give
"Get On the Bus" a particular resplendence that makes the film, however flawed,
a firm attempt to keep the pledge.
M
March 2000
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