The Learning Tree

I saw this movie when it first came out and I was very impressed. Here was a film about black people that was very positive and the protagonist was a young black male. I was a young black male in Ninth grade and I could really identify with this film.

Now if you examine films that were released that year or 10 years before none of them featured a story about a young black male.

The photography was beautiful and memorable.

I walked out of this film feeling proud and out of all the genre of films made during the blaxploitation era this one and sounder are certainly the most universal.

This was something that could have been done by Disney if they had the vision then that they have now!

I highly recommend this film and book to students in secondary school and university and since I teach at both I do.

Newton Winger is a black teenager in a 1920s mixed rural community of Cherokee Flats, Kansas with underlying racism. He follows his friend Marcus Savage to steal apples from Jake Kiner's orchard. Jake catches Marcus and whips him. Racist Sheriff Kirky shots a negro in the back for dice gambling in the woods and later arrests Marcus for putting Jake into the hospital. Judge Cavanaugh sends him to prison. Newt's respected mother works for the judge and sends him to work for Jake to atone for his transgression. He is dating sweet Arcella Jefferson and she gets raped by the judge's son Chauncey. Marcus is on parole and living with his illiterate father Booker. Growing up without a mother has left him angry. Booker kills Jake while stealing his booze. Newt secretly witnesses the incident and fears an explosion of racial reprisals.

There is so much realism in the race subject matter which has echoes of truth in today's world. It's written and directed by Gordon Parks who is better known for directing the blaxploitation icon Shaft. He uses his childhood in Kansas and the Midwest to breathe sincerity into his characters. The young lead does lack big charisma but he fits the young black man very well. Whether intentional or not, he has the sense of a normal young black man, uncertain and struggling to grow up. He and Marcus serve as two different paths into manhood dictated by their family. They're not shocked by the constant racism and are not cowed by them. The white people in the story comes in all shades. It weaves a complex tale of good and evil. It is adapted from Gordon's novel and could use some trimming. There is a lot going on. The vast tapestry of racism is almost a character in itself. It would serve the story better to expand it into a mini-series. With the ways of present day streaming, I hope somebody finds this material.

This film takes place in Kansas during the 1920's with a young, black teenager by the name of "Newt Winger" (Kyle Johnson) walking alone on the prairie when a tornado suddenly develops in the distance and catches him out in the open. Although he tries to seek shelter, as fate would have it, he gets pinned down by a falling tree and is left all on his own while the storm picks up in intensity. Luckily, a slightly older black teenager nicknamed "Big Mabel" (Carole Lamond) just happens to be in the area and half-carries him to an abandoned shack where the two of them cling to each other while the storm rages outside. The scene then shifts to Newt meeting a girl named "Arcella Jefferson" (Mira Waters) and, not only falling in love, but also during this time encountering racial prejudice while simultaneously trying to maintain a sense of dignity and moral uprightness in a cruel and unjust environment. Now, rather than reveal any more, let me just say that I had never heard of this movie until fairly recently and for that reason I didn't really know what to expect. That being said, now that I have seen it, I must say that I was quite surprised by how good this film turned out to be. I say this because it depicts a time and place that doesn't take center stage for racial turmoil and as a result it showcased the fact that this kind of hatred and bigotry wasn't confined to the Deep South or in urban areas like New York or Chicago. It was all across America. Of course, I'm not saying anything that most of us didn't already surmise--but it still caught me by surprise, all the same. Be that as it may, I was very impressed with this film and I have rated it accordingly.

I totally disagree with the previous review that says this movie has been white washed. Had he done his research he would know this was written and directed by a black man. He may need to take into account that this was filmed in 1969. This is how films from that time looked. The sets and costumes for films like Moses and Cleopatra weren't exactly realistic. I will agree that the acting isn't the greatest, but the story is good. There isn't any stereotyping in this movie, they have blacks and whites of different classes and backgrounds. Ever black isn't shiftless and and all of the whites aren't racist. I think it is a fair depiction of what blacks went through and the frustration they felt at that time. Its not the greatest movie I have seen, but it think it's worth watching.

The Learning Tree is one of those milestone films that one wishes were much better than it is. Parks' genius for the image comes through time and again, particularly in the opening sequence of the tornado and the horseback riders silhouetted by the sun. The milieu--rural Kansas in the 1920s--is unusual for a film focusing on racial conflict in the U.S., and that alone makes for an interesting film concept. But Parks' lack of film directorial and writing experience mars what could have been a major production. The dialogue in particular is often stilted and forced; too often the characters read their lines as though they're afraid they'll forget something. As a result, there's little real warmth or connection between characters. The other big problem here seems to be flow; each brief episode seems encapsulated, with new characters popping up left and right and then disappearing and reappearing without much development. Case in point: the series of episodes after the arrest. Who exactly are all of these new characters? What is the relationship between the white and black families, and between individuals in both groups? They come, they go, they reappear, but we're lucky to have caught their names. All in all, a much stronger film would have resulted from a collaboration of different screenwriter, director, and cinematographer, rather than having Parks run the whole show. If any film deserves a remake, it's The Learning Tree.