American Cinema: Critique of the Film "Separate but Equal 1991"

Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Critique of the Film Separate But Equal
Introduction
Separate but equal is a film which was produced in the year 1991 in America based on segregation of the school and the people of the back race in American society. It majors on the landmark of the Supreme Court disintegration, where it deals with a case involving Brown Board of Education. The case is based on the phrase "Separate but Equal." Led by the film stars Sidney Poitier, Thurgood Marshall, Richard Kiley and Robert L. Carter among other actors, brings the whole picture of the theme of the film Separated but Equal. The movie was rated to be the best in the 1991 as it was awarded the Outstanding Miniseries Award as the best film for that moment. The film was acted in the United States of America with its essence and language consideration being universal and understood by the viewersCITATION Bag14 \p 78 \l 1033 (Bagley 78). Considering that it is universally watched, the movie greatly emphasizes on the equality no matter the difference in social status within the society.
Separate but equal is a methodical film which tries to examine one of the significant cases resolved by the supreme court of United States in the twentieth century. The cases involved civil rights and racial segregation concepts and application of the American law to the people’s rights. The film, moreover, was of high quality which led it to being nominated severally in Emmy nomination. The film was awarded as the best drama special in the year 1991.
Main theme
The main theme for this film is racism which seems to be of great impact within the society of America and seems to be taking root within the United States society. The film tries to justifiably magnify how the racism is being practiced within the school by trying to eliminate the blacks from the whites’ and trying to segregate them from the local society (MPAA: encyclopeadia.org).The case of the young boy serves as the reference where he said that he has been denied a chance to join an integrated school. Moreover, the theme of racism is also presented through the character selection and manipulation, and the film cast. The major characters are even characterized by their color, as we see them being black which makes them different hence subjects for discrimination. For example, the Warren Chauffeur, who sleeps in the car due to unavailability of lodging for him because of the color of his skin.
Plot
The troubling racism case is an issue which is before the United States Supreme Court which is expected to determine whether the 14th constitutional amendment of the United States gives individuals the mandate to disintegrate the public schools on the basis of racism. It raises the questions that "separate but equal" policy should be held or, whatsoever, is it unconstitutional if it can’t be applied in the society fully? The issue is presented to the court by Brown V. Board of Education. He has a companion case which is Briggs V. Elliot. It serves as a referencing case to shine more light on the case. Most of the judges believe that segregation is unacceptable within the society but find it difficult to justify this through the 14th amendment of the constitution. In boldmost of the viewers find it difficult to justifiably identify on this case as it seems to be mixed up and clarification for the viewers is essential. Realization of what the whole film is all about is not directly depicted and thus requires critical analysis of the film. Marshal and David argue their position and perspective about the cases as they give their opinion. Marshall insists and tries to justify that equality should be exercised to all and segregation should be prohibited in school and other public institutions. He states that the equal protection clause should be practiced evenly to all individuals to justifiably protect the segregated schools. On the other hand, David argues, that segregation of schools is a state’s rights which the congress of the 14th amendment never intended to protect thus if it had been passed, it would have never been projected towards protection of the individual’s rightsCITATION Saf15 \p 15 \l 1033 (Saffer 15).
To allow the case take another step for the advisement, the Supreme Court allows Marshall and David to argue and justify, whether the equality protection extends to the desegregation of the school, which then allows the case thus to take the first advisement step within the court. The real picture of the actual event in the southern Carolina is presented progressively. The chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Fred M. Vinson dies, and he is then replaced by non-Jurist personnel, Governor Earl Warren of CaliforniaCITATION Saf15 \p 17 \l 1033 (Saffer 17). At the beginning, Marshall and his entire group are fruitless in finding ideas to show that the desegregation of the school was well established and catered for by the 14th amendment of the constitution. On the other hand, David and his crew are able to present some exemplary cases, which define that desegregation or the equal protection is not well administered in the amendment of the 14th constitutional. David and his crew depict, that it is not unconstitutional for segregation to take place in United States, which is later overturned by Marshall. David identifies specific schools, which have been existing since the passage of the equal protection clause in 1866 in United StatesCITATION Saf15 \p 20 \l 1033 (Saffer 20).
In the second advisement, the new justice is taken on a visitation to the Gettysburg by his black Chauffeur. During the visitation the Justice realizes that his chauffeur has to sleep in the car as there was no lodging for him due to desegregation by his race. The new justice researches that many of the courts doesn’t want the "separate but equal" law, but he still insists that the law should be universal and unanimous. This pushes him to write a letter to all justices to try to convince them that the law should be exercised with unanimityCITATION Saf15 \p 23 \l 1033 (Saffer 23). The judges finally come to an agreement. In his letter, Justice Warren states, that segregation has no place in the American society and thus they should all work together as judges to ensure that this is achieved. Some of the judges who were originally against the idea finally accept it and work together to eliminate segregation in American society. Finally, Marshall is acknowledged by the Supreme Court and in his plaintiff case, a student by the name Briggs who never went to integrated schoolCITATION Saf15 \p 26 \l 1033 (Saffer 26).
Synopsis
In the year 1950, there was a case in which a school in South Carolina was denied a school bus to transport the students who were of the black race. The head teacher of the school called the NAACP director to accept the case about themCITATION NMA61 \p 647 \l 1033 (NMA 647). The legal counsel of the school saw it as a positive decision to challenge the southern Carolina law on segregation. In the year of 1951, a lower court upheld the state’s law which led to the appealing of the case in the year of 1952 in the Supreme Court. John W. Davi...