THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512040196
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
AS A want-to-be disturbance, ``White Man's Burden'' is pretty tame. It's merely a gimmick looking for somewhere to go.
The setting is an America in which blacks are the ruling capitalists. They live in the mansions, control the jobs and look down on whites as poor, unfortunate troublemakers who can't, or won't, help themselves. Whites live in the slums and exist from paycheck to paycheck with no hope of improving themselves.
The premise is a compelling one and should have netted a more meaningful drama. It might have had some shock effect 20 years ago or maybe even 10 years ago. As it is, it's too little, too late.
John Travolta, done up in a bizarre red-headed do, plays Louis Pinnock, an average working man who loses his job, his home and his family, all because of a misunderstanding ordained by the ruling class. Volunteering to deliver a package to the Beverly Hills mansion of factory executive Thaddeus Thomas (Harry Belafonte), he inadvertently sees the partially clad body of Thomas' wife. A vague hint that the man might have been a peeping Tom gets him fired.
Seeking revenge, the Travolta character kidnaps the Belafonte character and demands the $3,000 he feels he's owed.
Both actors try hard. Travolta is quite effective in suggesting downtrodden, beaten humiliation. Belafonte is also effective, although he has to do nothing other than remain calm and suggest quiet, conservative elegance.
Aside from the ``Twilight Zone'' setting, the trouble is that we've seen this drama before. There's nothing new about it except reversing the races, and even this becomes a little silly. After all, the gimmick is not exactly new. It's been tried before in movies like ``Finian's Rainbow,'' ``Watermelon Man'' and ``Black Like Me.''
Kelly Lynch has some wonderfully believable moments as Travolta's loving wife who becomes a nag when things go wrong. Margaret Avery (an Oscar nominee for ``The Color Purple'') plays Belafonte's sleek wife.
With the plot sinking to nothing more than a routine melodrama, the film's only diversions are the everyday happenings that contain racial bias.
Many of these are played for laughs. The Belafonte family recoils when a son brings home a blonde, white girl. The little jockey statuettes on the front lawns of wealthy homes are white, not black.
Of interest, too, is the way the film attempts to suggest a country that has evolved from African, not European, heritage. The architecture reflects Moorish influence. The clothes reflect a warm climate.
These small details are much more interesting than the central plot, which is so predictable that you half expect someone to break into a rendition of ``Getting To Know You'' from ``The King and I.''
While meaning well, the film makers would have been well advised to wait until they could develop a meaningful script from this situation. As it is, the mere hostage-at-risk situation is hardly novel enough to sustain even the film's brief 90-minute running time. It is a situation in search of a drama and a movie in search of an end. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
SAVOY PICTURES
John Travolta, right, and Harry Belafonte star in ``White Man's
Burden.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``White Man's Burden''
Cast: John Travolta, Harry Belafonte, Kelly Lynch, Margaret Avery
Director and Writer: Desmond Nakano
Music: Howard Shore
MPAA rating: R (violence, language)
Mal's rating: Two stars
Locations: Janaf, Maingate in Norfolk; Columbus, Lynnhaven Mall
in Virginia Beach.
by CNB