 | The Cavalier daily Friday, May 7, 1971 |  |
Poitier In Cosmic Weirdness
By Steve Grimwood
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
"Brother John" is a weird
movie. You walk in expecting to
see good ol' Sidney Poitier playing
a black friar or something along
that line. Wrong. Brother John is a
somewhat "religious" character but
Sidney has gotten himself into a
movie decidedly different from his
past performances.
The scene, of course, is the rural
south. Instead of Sparta,
Mississippi, we are in Hackley,
Alabama. And, according to
Hollywood, if you've seen one
small southern town, you've seen
them all.
Hackley is also a troubled town.
Industrialism has struck, and so
have the black workers at the big
plant outside town. Tension is in
the air as Brother John floats
mysteriously into town to see his
dying sister.
Poitier has finally hit upon a
part that fits his acting perfectly.
John Kane is an impassive, quiet,
mysterious, expressionless black
man. Born in Hackley, he left
halfway through high school for
points unknown, returning only
when a close relative died, though
no one ever contacted him
concerning the illness.
John's sister dies. He returns and
is immediately forced into the
strike situation. He ignores it, falls
in love, and is thrown in jail.
Throughout all this an apparent
submerged subplot is breaking
through. Who the hell is Brother
John?
Mysto-cosmicism takes over at
this point, as you finally grasp at
who they are trying to make John
out to be. But, of course, the flick
ends before the question is actually
answered.
(Now At The Barracks Road)
| The Cavalier daily Friday, May 7, 1971 | |