Customer Reviews

White Man's Burden [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This review refers to "White Man's Burden"(VHS)...

Fresh off his success as a take no prisoners hitman, in "Pulp Fiction", John Travolta steps into the shoes of another man with a gun, Louis Pinnock. Louis is your everyday factory worker, living from pay check to pay check to support his family. He lives in the inner-city, and hopes to someday get just a little ahead, so he can move his family to a quieter, safer place. He's about to have a really bad week!

Volunteering to run an errand, delivering a package to factory owner Thaddius Thomas (Harry Belafonte), Louis has the unfortunate timing to glance Belafonte's wife as she undresses, and worse, Thomas sees him. The next thing we know,circumstances go from bad to worse. Louis is out of a job, a home and his mind. Blaming his boss, he feels he is "owed" what he lost,and becomes a desperate man.He kidnaps Belafonte, from his very upscale home and car at gunpoint.

This film is a real eye-opener. You may think you understand what it is like for inner-city, black families(or any minority group)and feel empathetic, but this is a film that will really make you sit up and take notice.

The roles are reversed.Travolta's character and his family are treated very much like second or third class citizens.Police automatically assume guilt, and take whatever means they want to make an arrest. The inner-city is mostly inhabited by whites, and is portrayed as crime infested neighborhoods. A little white boy is watching TV, as he flips through the channels, almost every program and commercial are black actors. The little boy wants a super hero action toy for his birthday. The super hero is black and more expensive then the white side kick, but the little boy wont settle for less.An elegant fashion show is put on by the very wealthy. It is to benefit the inner-city kids. The kids are showcased at the end... they are all white... the audience dressed to the nines, all black.

The film doesn't completely say everything is either black or white. It shows there is good and bad in every walk of life,has a sprinkling of whites in jobs that yield some power, but gives a good look at what many people must endure as human beings in day-to day life. It's not just about color..it's about the nature of man. How will Belafonte's character react, when he becomes desperate to escape his situation as well? Does it matter what color you are when faced with adversity?

The cast really became the characters they portrayed. Travolta and Belafonte were excellent. A young Andrew Lawrence, Magaret Avery(The Color Purple)and Tom bower add their talents as well.Even the angry gang members, played by stunt guys including Tony Zeller were very believable. A film for times you may want a little more substance then just entertainment.

It is a film that will make you think.It is a film that has something to say. It says it well, but it is probably not one that would stand up to repeated viewings. A rental would be best if you can find this obscure film.....Laurie

Overall I thought the movie was great. Louis Pinnock (John Travolta) plays the role of a chocolate factory employee who has been working there for many years. He lives in a poor part of the neighborhood and awaits the day when he will get a raise so that he can provide for his family and get out of that area of town.

He gets a special assignment to deliver a package on the other side of the town to Thaddeus Thomas (Harry Belafonte). He inncidently see's Mrs. Thomas nude throw an upstairs window and the result is Louis getting fired for being a peeping tom. After being fired, Louis loses his wife and continously looks for a job with no luck.

Louis, who after being fired, flips out and goes on a rampage to track down Thaddeus who he blames for getting him fired. Louis takes Thaddeus hostage and attemps to convince him that he owes Louis something for getting him fired and turning his life upside down.

The movie is a role reversal type film where a white man lives in a black mans world. All the high paid jobs go to the African Americans and the slums of the neighborhood are of all Caucasian decent. Even the characters on tv are all black, and the children all want to have action figures of black culture. The film is meant to open your mind and expand your beliefs on what type of society black people deal with and have to put up with in their everyday lives.

I won't ruin the ending but overall its a movie worth watching. It's deals with racism and how it might be for a white man living in a black world. I, being a white guy, find it hard to grasp the reality of how hard it is for African Americans and this movie helped me to visualize this aspect to a better understanding.

I admit, I love this movie. Combining Harry Belafonte with John Travolta is truely inspired. Both are excellent actors in their own right. And add to the fact that both are impassioned about messages, this makes it the perfect film vehicle for them to work together in. I see this movie as White Vs. Black, as much as upper class Vs. lower class. But the added change of race reversal makes it more fascinating. In this movie there are only two races, Black and White. Blacks are the powerful majority. They own the businesses, they are the actors you see on TV and in the movies, they are the ones that have super hero dolls made after them, they go on charity junkets with the "poor white kids", making themselves feel good by pretending to care and help. Behind closed doors, they talk about how the whites really do things to themselves. The whites in this movie are poor, uneducated, trying to avoid work, feel oppressed, and blame race for all of their problems. The occasional white character in power is a "token white", placed there to meet some kind of quota, not nessicarily because he deserved it. I think that this entire movie is based on role reversal, but it also points out that the problem is not race, as much as it is viewpoint. As long as people see themselves as oppressed, they will be oppressed. The true chains are in the mind, not in the color of the skin. As for the absence of Asian and Hispanic characters, this tells something also. All conversations of race in the US (outside of a few areas like California) talk ONLY about Black and White. There is no Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton for the Asians and Hispanics. So to many people, these are the "Invisible Minorities". This was shown in this movie, because these other races did not exist at all. Because nobody stands up and screams for their rights, they are excluded from the movie, because of lower impact. This of course may be unintentional, but it seems to make sense to me. Think of the last time you saw a rally, demonstration, or public speaker talking about how Hispanics and Asians are stepped on. Name one Asian or Hispanic civil rights leader that makes headline news. But this movie is fascinating. Dark, compelling, and worth watching over and over again. Also good to show to people of any race, because it is hard to ignore the hidden truth, and also the lie that is an accepted truth. This was the second movie I bought on DVD, and still has a prominant place on my shelf.

This CD was listed as a very good copy but had several scratches and stuck many times while viewing. Very bad copy!

I know some people have said that this movie doesn't take into consideration other minorities, but I think it is successful it achieving it's purpose. I am a white person and I was so moved by this movie. It's easy to be like the wife and say "oh, these poor inner-city kids are so cute" and help them out and feel like you're being compassionate, but I found myself feeling a little offended by her reaction. It was like a reality-check for me because it made me realize how I must come across to other people in my thinking. I think it's a powerful movie that everyone should watch. It may have focused on one minority, but I think if it really touches someone, they'll translate that toward other minorities. Excellent, thought-provoking, thought-changing movie! Well, done!!!! Thanks for doing it!!!

The basic idea of this film is a good one-"what would happen if the tables were turned." And there are good moments, such as the White kid wanting a Black doll and seeing nothing but Blacks on tv that do a good job of getting the message across, but midway through the picture, this is pushed aside and it becomes just another action thriller. However, the scenes of rich Black neighborhoods and poor White neighborhoods aren't all that potent, as such communities do exist in real life.

This weird 1995 offering shows us an alternate universe: whites are the "blacks", and blacks run the country. I pull no punches with critiques of this sort of thing, because it should be stated right off the bat. It took me probably 15 minutes into this film to realize that is what it is.

Harry Belafonte is a selfish, powerful corporate owner who cares nothing about his white employees; he is clearly a racist. When a dedicated plant worker (John Travolta trying to kick-start his career here) gets fired for no good reason, he kidnaps the boss at gunpoint. He only wants his due: the money he has lost since being fired.

This weird, sometimes pointless film is stunning, showing in full sci-fi glory what it would be like if the roles of blacks and whites were reversed. Trouble is, this is too stark and sometimes mindless. Travolta is allegedly doing what a black man would do...just remember, this is a parallel universe thing. So, an angry black man, hardworking, devoted to his family, loses his job, goes nuts and kidnaps the owner of the company??

This could have been a brilliant film, but what the hell were they thinking?! Travolta plays a character who is also immature, dimwitted, terribly angry and swears like no one I've ever heard this side of my aunt. Then he allows the boss to suffer a heart attack while in his custody and does not have any idea what to do about it.

Yes, I see where the filmmaker was going with all this--and even so, I found it a racist interpretation. My father was a hardworking black man, as were his surviving male relatives. Many of my closest pals as well as relatives are hardworking black folk. If they'd been screwed over, well, they'd be mad.

They would not have gone bonkers and kidnap someone at gunpoint. I can guarantee that, because some were law enforcement officials and we were all raised properly.

All in all, I'd say this film would have been much better served if it had been made purely by a black director and crew. Also, the casting of Travolta in this is what brought so much wrath on him in the 1990s that his career has not recovered yet.

See it for the carnival sideshow aspect, see it for the happenstance social commentary. Don't see it because it might be good...it really isn't.

I will make this short. This move was made in 1999 therefore in that time Black/White relations were much more strained than they are today. This film is a gauge for how far America has come as well as how economically depressed we have become. The film omits why each race is economically separated as to not addressing slavery and basic history. Viewing this film in 2011 turns the film into a comedic look at poor Whites and affluent Blacks just for the simplistic view of the reality that a large portion of this film depicts. For example, in the U.S.A today we have white trash and prosperous Blacks but the striking element that is so vulgar is the reality of commercial television. This film hits home when it depicts TV as all Black for the simple fact that commercial television today is all white and that is not all right. Sure we have come far in creating equality and from 1999 to today there has been a major breakthrough in race relations and I am talking about the reality of the United States electing a Black President. I suggest getting this film just for the monumental task of even trying to flip racial reality. As a musician and not a film critic I was amused and enjoyed this film but I do not enjoy racial inequality.

This video is an interesting, imaginative story. Well written plot. Good video for the whole family to view. Racial prejudice from an opposite point of view. Would like to see more of this genre.

I haven't seen this one on cable since Obama became president...LOL. This is a great movie, it should be seen
to promote racial understanding, nothing like walking in the other person's shoes to get a real understanding
of a CHARACTER FLAW,we don't want to see or acknowledge!