By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
The new, Civil Rights drama,
“Son of the South” from director Barry Alexander Brown (“Breath of Freedom”) is based on author
Robert Zellner’s 2008 memoir, “The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement.”
In “Son of the South,” Zellner is played by
Lucas Till (TV’s “MacGyver”) and the movie centers around him taking a stand for racial equality by joining the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)--he was their first white field secretary-- and becoming active in the Civil Rights movement while a student at Montgomery Alabama’s Huntingdon College.
In the process, Zellner meets Reverend Ralph Abernathy (Cedric the Entertainer, TV’s “The Neighborhood”), Rosa Parks (Sharonne Lanier, “I Still Believe”), James Forman Sr. (played by his son Chaka Forman, “Palm Swings”) and John Lewis (Dexter Darden, TV’s “Saved by The Bell”) who schools Zellner on the backlash he will face for his involvement with them.
Not only was Zellner intimidated and threatened with violence from his white classmates and others in his tight-knit community, but even from his own grandfather (Brian Dennehy in one of his last roles) who is a proud member of the KKK.
Zellner’s longtime girlfriend Carol (Lucy Hale, TV’s “Day by Day”) left him, but he later falls for a striking black woman named Joanne (Lex Scott Davis, TV’s “All Rise”), which no doubt made his grandfather angrier.
While the acting in “Son of the South” is solid, there is something a bit off kilter about the movie. It methodically goes through the motions to lay out the struggles that blacks faced during the Civil Rights movement, but there’s not enough spark or punch to make it as impactful as other Civil Rights dramas like “Selma” or “Boycott” which is rather surprising considering that Spike Lee is a co-executive producer of the film.
Still, “Son of the South” is another slice of our history that deserves to be known and seen.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"SON OF THE SOUTH"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics' Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.