A Family Thing

This is a movie that reminds one of the saying: "Just when I thought I knew the answers, they changed the questions." A Caucasian man discovers late in life that his mother was actually Black, instead of the White woman who raised him. The history of slavery in the US, and the American version of apartheid in the south that followed the Civil War until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and given the often "strained" relations that exist today; the subject matter is important and challenging. The result is that "A Family Thing" is a little gem. It speaks of bigotry, fear, the way things were and the way things are. Some White Americans will not be comfortable with this movie. This will be due to the bigoted nature of Mr. Duvall's character, metaphoric of White hatred towards Blacks. Then, his world crumbles when he discovers when all is not what it seems. Kudos to the producers(of whom Mr. Duvall was one) and the cast for a superb lesson in confronting hate, and how one special Aunt can heal wounds generations old.

What a pleasant surprise this was. I caught this one day on Showtime and really didn't give it much of a chance. But I was so wrong!! Powerful performance by Irma P. Hall (as Aunt T.), and Robert Duvall is at his best as well. Wonderfully acted and written, this has to be the best movie I have seen in a long while. Sure, the same old southern stereotypes are portrayed as well as the same for the inner-city black culture, with many being quite accurate. Some parts were a little over the top, like the birthday party in the bar that Earl crashes as a total stranger. But that being said, not a lot of negatives I can say about this movie.

A Family Thing is a drama about a Southen man (Duvall) who's mother reveals on her deathbed that he was not her child. Rather he was the result of a forced encounter between his father and the black help. In order to keep a promise Duvall sets off to find his half-brother (Earl-Jones).

Although the story seems to be about race - it's main theme is one of forgiveness and acceptance of others, with race being one of the barriers to break down.

All the characters have their own barriers to overcome - Duvall has to confront the fact that he is not white, Earl-Jones has to deal with his hatred of past events and Michael Beach has to come to terms with missing out on pro-football and the breakup of his marriage. Only the sagely aunt T. (Irma P. Hall) has the ability to accept everyone for whom they are - partly due to being blind "and not being able to judge folks on what they look like".

It's not an earth shattering piece of story telling and at times doesn't seem to have a consistent flow to it but it held my attention throughout and was actually quite rewarding.

It's all a bit tidy (in real life, nothing gets sorted this easy), but it definately makes you think.

Irma P. Hall should have won the Oscar for this performance. I can't believe she wasn't even nominated. Duvall and Jones were also wonderful. An actor's treat!

Another delightful collaboration of Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thornton. How refreshing it is to be treated to non-Hollywood type characters that the viewer can identify with. Jones and Duvall are splendid, but like another reviewer says, the show stealer is Irma P. Hall.