Link to LetterBoxd review here.
A 14-year-in-the-making documentary follows, Idris and Seun, two black boys in New York from age 5 to 17 who are about to enter The Dalton School, one of the most prestigious k-12 college preparatory schools in the nation being founded in 1919. With a vulnerably intimate lens on the boys’ lives inside and outside Dalton, we are provided insight on the early stages and development of targeted in-group vs. out-group thinking on adolescents of color, how the “diverse environments” narrative plays a role in whether these boys benefited or not from that system, and the impromptu questions every parent wishes or fears from their black child.
A cameraman films not only the boys, but the separate parents’ and siblings’ lives through extraordinarily, simple life moments from the corners of childhood bedrooms, the passenger seat on the car ride to school, or on the bleachers to their first few school basketball games. We see as the corners of childhood bedrooms turn into the vacation hotel rooms with friends, and most importantly, without the ‘rents. How once was a kid staring at his bedroom ceiling telling us about how lonely he felt in a place like Dalton, now tears up as he hugs his friends during graduation and wishes that he could have stayed for a little longer. We embrace, we grieve, and we cherish these therapeutic sessions between Idris and Seun because we know, that this is one of the rare times they truly have control over their own lives. The question, “Is it true- they would like me if I was white?” feels scripted, too uncomfortable to have been asked with real sincerity by a boy just 10 years old.
MY THOUGHTS:
The sensitivity of Idris within this documentary sharply contrast how America perceives black children, “black boys don’t cry.” Idris, and children generally, strike me with their freedom to be vulnerable to any audience and becoming completely disconnected from any judgement. We see Idris openly speaking about feeling undesirable because he is black, flirting with a girl on the metro, comforting his mom at her wedding, explaining what a cardigan is to Seun. I was reminded of Moonlight; these movies both studied the dealing of emerging, new emotions in a difficult world, especially as a kid that is already seen by society as 7 years older than you actually have developed to be.
The gradual separation of the ties between Idris and Seun is difficult to accept as a viewer. You mourn for the lost memories that this documentary could have included if they still kept in touch, you grin at the cardigan scene because you see the spark hasn’t faded between the two but instead got lost, you wonder when you will see the two comfort each other within the scenes of Seun’s brother death only for Idris not to be mentioned or seen. The ambiguity of how Idris reacted to Seun’s tragedy doesn’t call for anger towards Idris, but instead a disheartening feeling that they may be more of strangers than friends now at age 16.
“American Promise” is a great name for this documentary. Hope is a strong presence within this documentary. As Idris’ mother reveals her disarray parents within her childhood that prompted her to be independent at 16 years old, she has allowed the audience to look past her strict disciplining and her constant over-the-shoulder parenting to see a woman who hopes to see her son accomplish more than she ever did. Seun’s mother is seemingly unaffected by her stage 2 cancer as she continues to mama bear her family, until a tragic death occurs where then the family must rely on god and hope to love even harder and hug even tighter this time. With hope, you create given pain into lessons of gratitude. With hope, you’ve made a promise to yourself that no easy things can come to those that just wait. That you’ll be okay in the end, or at least, that’s what you’ll believe.