Schwarze Revange

This film begins with a young woman by the name of "Emma Mae" (Jerri Hayes) arriving by bus from rural Mississippi to visit her aunt and cousins who live in the big city of Los Angeles. Needless to say, the difference between these two places is quite startling and upon being introduced to her cousin's friends they all immediately look down upon her for not being as sophisticated as they are. Realizing this, she feels gratified when one specific young man name "Jesse Amos" (Ernest Williams II) takes an interest in her. So much so that she quickly falls in love with him. What she doesn't realize, however, is the low opinion others actually have for Jesse and the question soon becomes whether she can lift him up--or whether he will bring her down? Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an interesting movie which suffered to a certain degree from its rather obvious low-budget production values as the acting was uneven, the action scenes were weak and the script could have some improvement as well. Even so, the overall story was deep and Jerri Hayes put on a pretty good performance all things considered. That being said, while certainly not a great blaxploitation film by any means, it had its moments and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I've had this film for years but it's titled Black Sister's Revenge (unfortunately). The actors, the attire, lingo, subtle mannerisms and even the plot are good. Lots of interesting scenes that are a throwback to simpler times. I wish there was a sequel- so many questions. Give it a try it's a nice change from what's out there now.

A low budget film, somewhat less exploitive than most of the blaxploitation films of its time, "Emma Mae" tells the story of a young woman from a small town in the south who comes to live with her relatives in the city after being orphaned, who falls in love with a young hood who gets her to commit crimes for him. The film does have some nice touches. It manages to catch the feel of the inner city of the 1970's far better than some of the slicker productions of its era. But the script lets the rest of the movie down (it's just too hard to believe that these people can commit these crimes so easily, and without much fear of getting. I really wish I could have liked it better.

Interesting film made when its director Jamaa Fanaka, was a film school student at my alma mater, UCLA, just as Blaxploitation was waning and ten years before the advent of more radically political/social cinematic explorations of African American life such as "Do The Right Thing" and "Boyz n The Hood". This film is poised in between the two genres, but leaning more forward than back, in my opinion, particularly in its denouement when the importance of the community, certainly a large part of Lee's movies, if not Singleton's, is stressed over that of the seductive Super Cool individual, a staple of Blaxploitation. While this theme is strongly and forcefully stated, with good pacing and well handled action scenes, the acting, as befits most student and/or low budget indy productions, is undeniably on the stiff side. Less forgivable is the story character lapse in the screenplay, also by Fanaka, involving Jesse, the drug pusher and abusive boyfriend of the title character. When Emma Mae denounces him in the powerful final scene a lot of that power is vitiated due to Jesse's having been seen throughout most of the film by everyone but Emma Mae as more of a stoned out doofus than a false messiah as she states as she's kicking his ass.. Therefore, we're treated to the always salutary Woman Whups Abusive Man's Butt but falling well short of Community Over Individual which, as I understand it, is what Fanaka was after. So, let's give it a B minus and look forward to watching this good director's most well known work, "Penitentiary".

I only took the two points because of the budget. This is a very good moving for a low budget. It is one I grow up watching as little girl and enjoyed the storyline, acting and step into time. Now I share with my children. The acting is very good from the two leads, Jerrie Hayes and Ernst Williams. Although, not a very common story line, the story line is one we may still need to pay attention to today. There are many lessons to be learned from this moving. Although they may have lost me in there mean to an end action to free Zeke and Jesse. It doesn't ways work out this way in life, but it is a movie. Nevertheless, there were still great meaning behind the film. We need to understand who we are, what we are living for and is it worth the cost? I really wish more projects like this one could have been produced. I would have loved to see both Hayes and Williams in other productions. I believe that both of them may have been overlooked. I guess there wasn't very many roles available to someone with such beautiful skin and talent. LOL.