Spinning Into Butter

Sarah Daniels teaches in a Lancaster School, which is predominantly occupied by minorities, especially blacks. She soon develops a deep hatred and prejudice, even fear, against blacks, and avoids them even in public transportation. When she finds out about a vacancy in Belmont College in Vermont, she re-locates there. But her past will be put to the test when she is ironically labeled a liaison person for the minorities, as well as asked to prepare a 10 point list to resolve racism, after an African American student, Simon Black, becomes a victim of hate crime.

She will also realize that before she was hired, the Management expected her to be black.

Subsequently, she herself will question her prejudice as well as the Management's 'lip service' response to the hate crime amidst heavy media presence, and growing restlessness and hatred amongst the student body.

Quite frankly, one can only laugh out loud at the naivety shown by the school management in asking a lecturer to prepare a document titled 'how to resolve racism'.

For generations, judiciary, and human rights commissions have turned a nelson's eye on this issue, and that's precisely the reason why it continues on undeterred.

One must often wonder as to why most people on one hand are contemptuous of lawyers, but respectful of judges - who at one time were themselves lawyers. Many lawyers are appointed to the judiciary by politicians - thus issues never get addressed and get even more complex in the long run. This is why people take to the streets and there is violence when concerns and issues are left unaddressed.

A thought provoking movie, and a must-watch for all.

In "Spinning Into Butter," a small ivy-covered college in Vermont, known for its liberal views and tolerant policies, is rocked by a racial incident aimed at a recently enrolled black student. Soon the incident has exposed a vein of racism running through the faculty and student body that has long lain hidden beneath a veneer of white liberal guilt and political correctness.

Sarah Jessica Parker plays Sarah Daniels, the newly arrived Dean of Students who has to take the lead in quelling the crisis, but who may have issues of her own regarding race to deal with. Veteran actor Beau Bridges also appears as a fellow dean.

Based on the play by Rebecca Gilman (who co-wrote the screenplay with Doug Atchinson), "Spinning Into Butter," directed by Mark Brokaw, starts off with the best of intentions, pinpointing some of the complexities inherent in an issue we too often sweep under the rug in an effort to avoid dealing with it. And the movie does an effective job highlighting the irony that sometimes it is the very well-intentioned efforts we make to try to alleviate the negative effects of racism - quotas, forced integration, segregation in the name of "cultural pride" etc. - that wind up actually exacerbating the problem in the end. The film also makes the rather provocative case that even in a mostly white, socially liberal enclave like Vermont, racism still exists, though since it is rooted more in the subconscious, it is more likely to manifest itself in covert rather than overt ways there. It's a daring and risky theme and one the filmmakers should be congratulated for at least having the courage to bring out in the open.

However, noble intentions notwithstanding, the heavy-handed approach the movie takes towards the topic ultimately robs it of much of its effectiveness. Too often the characters sound less like real people than like spokespersons for individual causes. Moreover, the staging of events is frequently awkward, the drama needlessly contrived. And the resolution of the conflict, quite frankly, borders on the preposterous. Additionally, the performances, with the exception of Parker's, lack any mitigating trace of polish and finesse.

There's no denying that there are moments of quality scattered throughout the film, and that the autumnal New England scenery is absolutely lovely (though a very small part of the exteriors were filmed - seamlessly, I might add - at the high school in Los Angeles where I work). Yet, sad to say, "Spinning Into Butter" emerges as probably the clunkiest and most self-satisfied examination of race relations in America since the urban drama "Crash."

You know, there could have been a decent story here, but so many "isms" and trite dialog (like a very bad David Mamet play "Oleanna" about sex discrimination....very trite and pointless. Forced dialog that NEVER occurs in real life does not a film make.

Beau Bridges as Dean of a Vermont college, reciting the story of "Little Black Sambo"?.....it doesn't ring true and SJP while sometimes good, overdoes the fake agenda here...:"I used to be a decent person, then avoided black men on the subway".... Have we regressed yet again to 1970?.

The final hour of this film is simply awful for anyone with an I.Q. who has lived or worked in a city, any city in a real world. Frankly, I am tired of SJP and that "Carrie Bradshaw" is representative of NY women who are caring, open, emotional, but get hurt when they wear their heart on their sleeve. Trite and awful. The audience deserves better.

From the opening credits, this movie made me cringe at almost every scene. The movie centers around a racial incident on the campus of a fictional small rural Vermont college. Of course the college stands in as a symbol of a majority White community, and the racial incident unavoidably escalates into a small media frenzy. Thus the stage is set for all the players to act and reveal their views on the issue of race. Of course the viewer immediately sees through the "characters", and starts interpreting the views of the writers and producers themselves. That's the whole issue about race: people are very aware of the differences between their views and other people's views about it. So, as the story unfolds and more and more stereotypes about race and stereotypical reactions to race are paraded out, I asked myself, who does this movie serve? Who does this movie not offend? It was obvious the script tries to represent both sides of the fence, in an "equal-time" manner. Amazingly enough, they even voiced the politically incorrect side, in a qualified way. Everyone in the movie is a caricature of their race. Largely, though not entirely predictable as you watch it, it still fits the stereotype of how race is allowed to be discussed in film. But ultimately, outside any moral of "racism is inevitable", or "racism is bad", the film makes no point itself. Sure, it might succeed on the level about getting "people to talk about race", but as the movie shows, why is that such a great idea?

My expectations were very low, so that may be why I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. I like SJP much more in this type of role than the endless incarnations of Carrie Bradshaw that she has played. She has great comic timing, but she has more to offer, and that's on display here (check her out in Smart People for more of what I'm talking about).

Anyway, racism is a tough issue and hasn't been dealt with on film in any credible way for many years (I just saw a promo for a new Hughes Brother movie and it looks like a standard action picture with nothing much to say about anything). Spike Lee is making heist movies and John Singleton is completely MIA. So I'll take what I can get.

No, it's not a perfect movie, but it kept my interest and it tried to show a bunch of different viewpoints. That's worth watching right there. I found most of the characters sympathetic, even the awkward, messed up ones - everyone has their reasons for behaving like they do. Yes, the characters are "types" to some extent, but how can you address this issue without showing standard actions that we all have seen? I lived in Philadelphia for many years and worked at Temple University (not unlike the fictional Lancaster College in the film) and now live in very white Clay NY. I could totally relate to the Dean's dilemma - seeing people who fit the stereotype, but then feeling weak for avoiding the problem. I thought it was pretty real.

And I just loved the closing shot - great way to end.

Unless you are determined to hate it, check this movie out - it's not a waste of time and it just might make you think.