This is a dramatization of the events that happened at Columbia University in 2008. These events included a black faced party held by a fraternity, a protest being held outside, with the evening climaxing with a murder. The film opens with an investigation of the incident by Federal Agent Long (Keith David) with the story told as flashbacks. The film looks at the lives of the people involved in the incident, so we get a chance to walk in their shoes.
The acting was okay, some left a little to be desired. An opening statement said there was no dramatization, but one has to wonder about the details of the conversations. The title of the film is clever in that it implies the melting pot is a boiling pot. There is a metaphor in the movie involving a frog who sleeps while the pot is boiling as long as it is heated up slowly....something the film does so ingeniously.
The byline that it will make people look at race differently, didn't apply to me. I have been a white guy for most of my life and I thought the film could have said more.
My own observations: First off Obama was NOT descended from slaves brought over here in chains as once incorrectly stated in the film. If anything he was descended from those who sold people for beads. (Pardon me for making a blunt maybe true Trump-type statement.) Now I don't know if Kenya slave traded or not, they were a bit far east and most of the trade came from Africa's west coast, one of those wooden boat geography things. So I apologize if I am wrong, but don't feed me Obama and chains. We have yet to have a President descended from slaves.
The film had two real villains: The one racist white guy in the frat and the black investigating officer who wanted to pin the murder on the Arab-American instead of the white guys.
Prejudice is in our DNA. We grow up in surroundings that become our comfort zone. This includes people who look a certain way. When we see people who look like those outside of our clan, our survival instinct puts us on alert, and this manifests itself in different ways. It is something that can be "unlearned" over time unless events or media etc. work against it. The film never goes to the root cause.
A white guy take away: White people acting like black people is racist. Black people acting like white people is Presidential.
Best comedy line from film: "Best things in life are free or $5.95."
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