"History is more or less bunk." -Henry Ford While textbooks and blackboards take a backseat to the silver screen as the primary source of the lessons taught by history, producers seem unaware or unconcerned by the tremendous power they wield, unable to prioritize their responsibilities to portray the truth to the impressionable youth that constitute the bulk of today's audiences - and whose main source for historical references is popular culture, not a history book. "Artistic" liberties taken to create a more profitable, less objectionable character study often come at the expense of truth. The consequence is a whitewash, which inevitably results in its popular perception as reality. With the passage of time, factual errors, compositing characters or events, convenient omissions and the telescoping of events skew, distort and eventually supplant reality and erode the facts in the public's collective consciousness. Ultimately, the film becomes the popular version of the truth: the "agreed upon lie" pondered by French philosopher Voltaire 300 years ago. The latest biopic to hit screens, Talk to Me, is no exception. It tells the rags-to-riches, back-to-rags story of one-time felon, one-time radio superstar and just one-of-a-kind character, Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle). Cheadle's electric performance captures Greene's swagger and style as he parlays a small-time gig as prison DJ at Lorton Reformatory into hosting his own morning radio show, "Rapping With Petey Greene" on Washington, D.C.'s WOL. Greene's boisterous personality and "tell it like it is" attitude appealed to Washington, D.C.'s alienated African American community of the '60s, and he became an icon and activist. With the help of friend and producer Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a penchant for shameless self-promotion, Greene propelled himself constantly into bigger and better things. He began hosting his own television show, "Petey Green's Washington," on WDCA TV. He also landed a guest spot on "The Tonight Show" and, ultimately, found himself invited by then-President Richard M. Nixon to the White House, where, he boasted on-air, he stole silverware during dinner. While the cast, wardrobe and soundtrack of Talk to Me all capture the mood and atmosphere of the turbulent Civil Rights Era, the filmmakers seem conflicted about the type of film they are attempting to create. Petey Greene was famous for creating his own legend. By his own account, many of his stories are exaggerations or outright lies. The film, however, overlooks their possible provenance as fabrications and presents them as fact, opting to embellish and glamourize the more flamboyant sides of this pioneer of African-American media while glossing over some of the darker aspects of this talented but troubled entertainer. There is no mention in the film of Green's discharge from the army for heroin abuse, and his armed robbery conviction is euphemized as a generic "felony." The filmmakers have effectively created a likable, marketable protagonist by deliberately obscuring the persona of the real Petey. By splicing together new footage with authentic archival video from the Martin Luther King riots, anti-war demonstrations and vintage episodes of "The Tonight Show," they have made it difficult to separate the real from the reel. To audiences unfamiliar with the genuine Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, the filmmakers and actor Cheadle have successfully presented a reinvented, glossier version at the expense of the real man, and the rehabilitated Petey is the one who ultimately will be remembered. "History is fables agreed upon." -Voltaire Talk to Me (2007)
Directed by Kasi Lemmons
Screenplay by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa; Book by Michael Genet All Photos Copyright 2007 Focus Features. All Rights Reserved. |
