Son of the South

"None of us ever forgot those songs, and in the days of the shock troops, in dangerous situations, music gave people strength and courage - strength of soul." - Bob Zellner

One of the highlights this year of the Deauville American Film Festival was the presentation of the beautiful film Son of the South written and directed by Barry Alexander Brown (Lonely in America (1990), Winning Girls Through Psychic Mind Control (2002), Last Looks (2008)). Adapting Bob Zellner's autobiographical novel, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, Barry Alexander Brown makes a moving film about a dark period in the United States in which the African-American minority did not have equal rights, and in which men decided to risk their lives to defend the violated rights of people who demanded only equal rights. 

Son of the South is set during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, as the grandson of a Klansman, Bob Zellner (Lucas Till, perfect in the role) is forced to confront the endemic racism of his own culture. Defying his family and white Southern norms, he embarks on a struggle against social injustice, repression and violence to change the world he was born into. His righteous struggle will put his life in danger and lead to the dissolution of his relationship with Carol Anne (Lucy Hale). Yet Bob Zellner will find a new home and a reason to give his time to a cause beyond his own condition.

Many films have been able to highlight the darkness of a deep America that did not understand the importance of uniformity of human rights under the pretext of saving the harmful legacy of slavery and for fear of losing their advantages, their jobs. This film is a true tribute to these men who became true heroes by standing up against the inequality of civil rights in the 1960s. This film also features important people who were able to change the course of history such as Rosa Parks and the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who are only given secondary roles here but whose importance in the history of the United States is undeniable. 

The strength of the film Son of the South, produced by Spike Lee, is to have succeeded in rendering a bygone era realistic and to plunge the spectators back into this important period of the United States. Bob Zellner, who had remained in the background while some African-Americans made their voices heard and protested without violence in the face of police forces that did not hesitate to use violence and a violent population, gradually became a leading activist and his story gave rise to an important autobiographical novel as a testimony of that era. We can understand the importance of this story in the eyes of the writer and director Barry Alexander Brown who edited his own film (he is one of Spike Lee's regular editors on many films).  Also in view of the recent events in the United States, one feels that this film is very much in tune with current events.

By shooting in the very places where the events described here took place, Son of the South gains in emotional strength and shows us the United States in a bad light. We can only take part for this protest movement whose claims were just. The perfect casting of the film makes that we adhere immediately to this film and that we take the blows with the characters and that we have only one desire once the film finished, to see it again and especially to defend it. It is even more successful because it allows the actor Lucas Till to have the lead role. Known for having taken over the role of mGyver in a new series that lasted five seasons and for having interpreted the character Alex Summers / Havok in several films of the cinematographic saga X-Men he finds here a strong role and an undeniable sincerity. Lucas till makes Bob Zellner an ordinary man become a defender of a strong and commendable cause.

Son of the South joins this list of dramatic films dealing with the revolt of African-Americans in the United States but stands out as a model of the day by its efficiency, its emotional strength and by the way it opens our eyes on this evil that is eating away at the United States and that continues to be regularly talked about in the news. Neither moralizing nor provocative, Son of the South is simply a great film as we would like to see more of in the United States.

Son of the South
Written and directed by Barry Alexander Brown
Produced by Colin Bates, Stan Erdreich, Bill Black, Eve Pomerance
Based on The Wrong Side of Murder Creek by Bob Zellner
Starring Lucas Till, Lex Scott Davis, Lucy Hale, Jake Abel, Shamier Anderson, Julia Ormond, Brian Dennehy, Cedric the Entertainer
Cinematography : John Rosario
Edited by Barry Alexander Brown
Music by Steven Argila
Production companies : Lucidity Entertainment, Major Motion Pictures, River Bend Pictures, El Ride Productions, SSS Film Capital
Distributed by Clear Horizon Entertainment, Vertical Entertainment (United States), Star Invest Films France (France)
Release date : August 26, 2020 (ABFF), February 5, 2021 (United States), march 16, 2022 (France)
Running time : 105 minutes

Seen on September 8, 2021 at the Centre International de Deauville

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