Night begins its short journey at the outset of a girl’s night out. Sue and Genelva arrive at the apartment of Kitty and Jess to get ready. Genelva is visiting the U.S. from Suriname and Sue wants to show her the fancy club that her friends Kitty and Jess have access to, despite their illegal age, because they both know (and have a crush on) the bouncer. All of the girls except Genelva are under 21, but even though Genelva is 22, Kitty and Jess seem to believe that her ID will be the least believable because it’s “foreign”.
“…flips the script on uncomfortable truths about how POC are treated in this country.“
This is as good a time as any to mention that Sue and Genelva are white, and Kitty and Jess are black. Or is it vice-versa? While only clocking in at eight minutes and forty-two seconds, Dutch actress/director Joosje Duk’s short film Night is incredibly effective in getting its message across. It literally flips the script on uncomfortable truths about how POC are treated in this country. Without giving the whole film away, I can say that a sudden shocking switch-a-roo happens towards the end that shows us what it would be like if the shoe was on the other–white–foot.
Unfortunately, a ridiculous number of Americans are blind to the fact that racism is still a problem. They live in a bubble where the term “post-racial America” is not the most cringeworthy thing on Earth. Most of these people are white, and they all need to take a long hard look in the mirror and at the reality we actually inhabit. Duk does a great job at attempting to show those with their head in the Trumpian clouds the true reality of our society. I’m entirely serious when I say that this film would be a great view for high schoolers or college freshman to watch across the country, especially in the less enlightened rural pockets where racism runs the most rampant. I hope that one day Duk directs a feature-length film because it’s bound to be excellent.
Night (2018) Written and directed by Joosje Duk. Starring Rachel Hilson, Genelva Krind, Kelly McCready, Katherine Romans, and Doron JePaul Mitchell.
8 out of 10 stars
As a white American it never ceases to blow my mind how clueless so many white people are about the entrenched racism in the U.S. America as we know it would not exist without racialized slavery (a historical anomaly) and the literal invention of “Whiteness”. None of this has magically gone away because of the 14th amendment – which actually perpetuates slave labour in our prison-industrial-complex – or the civil rights movement. All it takes is a little reading (God forbid!) ,some awareness and, above all, Empathy.