DOWN IN THE DELTA
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Miramax Films Director: Maya Angelou Writer: Myron Goble Cast: Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman Jr., Esther Rolle, Mary Alice, Loretta Devine, Wesley Snipes
Some people think that families screw you up. Others believe that families are the greatest thing since sliced bread. For most of us the answer lies between the two extremes. Even Todd Solondz, in his wonderfully edgy "Happiness," provides some respite, some redemption for the dysfunctional unit he portrays: pederast Dr. Bill Maplewood has a lovely relationship with his eleven-year-old boy Billy. And while the families in Pleasantville seem to be as functional as they can get, we soon see the distortions which are covered up by surface affability. In "Down in the Delta," directed from Myron Goble's debut screenplay by the notable author Maya Angelou, Angelou shows how a strong, stable, happy family unit can overcome some trenchant dysfunction, turning alienated, weary people into cheerful, accomplished, optimistic souls. If the transformation is too sudden and complete to be convincing, "Down in the Delta" nonetheless offers some heartwarming moments with keen insight into the problems that can befall people of any ethnic group, particularly if they are poor.
What Brian Friel did for his characters in a movie opening one month before this, "Dancing at Lughnasa," Angelou achieves for her film. "Lughnasa" deals with a quintet of unmarried, poor sisters living in Ireland during the 1930s, who manage to remain bonded and reasonably content despite lost opportunities. "Delta" considers the fate of two units of a single family, one virtually crushed by the boot of irreclaimable misfortune, whose present-day activities are strongly influenced by previous generations--though one of the two segments is wholly unaware of this remarkable leverage.
Loretta (Alfre Woodard) lives in a Chicago ghetto with her mother Rosa Lynn (Mary Alice), her bright son Thomas (Mpho Koaho) and her autistic daugher Tracy (Kulani Hassen). Addicted to alcohol and to some extent dependent on drugs, Loretta is persuaded by her mother to take her kids and spend the summer in Mississippi with her elderly uncle Earl (Al Freeman), who lives with his Alzheimer's-affected wife Annie (Esther Rolle). Having been unable to find a job in Chicago because of her lack of education and the general shortage of work, Loretta is taken in tow by her prescient uncle, who puts her to work in his cafe, preparing chicken sausages at first but then moving on to become a waitress and cashier. Delighted by the affection she receives from her rural relations, Loretta thrives in her new environment and even her mentally-challenged little girl stops her sudden, sharp outbursts and learns to say a couple of words. Away from drug dealers, indifferent employers and schools that search kids daily for weapons, Loretta and her kids reinvent themselves, learning the value of steady work and responsibility as they breathe the cleaner air supplied by that southern state. Through a meeting with another member of the family, Will (Wesley Snipes)--a Buppie lawyer who bills $100 an hour but is unhappy with his snobbish wife Monica (Anne-Marie Johnson)--Loretta makes even further strides, and prepares to become an entrepreneur.
Much is made of a solid silver candlestick holder named Nathan, which serves as the film's central metaphor. The object of much affection, Nathan was "lifted" by a distant relative from a former slaveholder just after the Civil War and has seen been passed down through the generations until it wound up as Rosa Lynn's property. Sharing a trajectory with "Beloved," a far more ambitious project, "Down in the Delta" relies for its energy on brief flashbacks to antebellum times as slaves were sold like cattle in the marketplace, families broken up, and the candlestick holder used as payment to purchase human labor.
Though Loretta's recovery is too swift and complete to be believed and while the movie is infused with homilies and tends toward mawkishness, "Down in the Delta" goes beyond mere sentimentality to evoke a warm portrait of a family on the ropes which is redeemed by a change of venue. Al Freeman is particularly effective as the strong uncle who steers Loretta in the right direction with Mary Alice turning in a robust role as the sturdy grandmother who realizes her impotence in the face of the unhealthy attractions of a large urban center. Toronto stands in for Chicago and a suburb forty miles north of that pretty city becomes the rustic utopia which is home to a kindly and even charismatic older man.
Rated PG-13. Running Time: 114 minutes. (C) 1998 Harvey Karten
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