Art is and always has been the imitation of life; a mirror of sorts that makes one question its existence and deconstruct the true nature of the world. Lena Waithe and Melina Matsoukas are two artists that have done just that with their new film, ‘Queen & Slim.’ In this movie, two black American strangers fall in love on a liberating journey across America, running from persecution and execution after killing a white American police officer in self-defense on their first date. This exquisite film captures the threat, fragility and ultimate peril of the black body and the black experience. It also encapsulates the passion, depth, and beauty that is ‘black love.’ Viewers watching this film will experience joy, sorrow, hope, fury, and freedom.
Throughout the movie, the viewer will likely make a lot of assumptions about what is to occur in the next scene or at the end of the movie through a biased lens. This lens through which patrons are viewing the movie is quietly challenged in many ways as they watch the film:
- The viewer will likely assume that the mechanic who helps the couple with their car troubles will turn them over to the authorities after he expresses his outright opposition to the actions the couple took in killing the cop. But he doesn’t. This scene highlights the generational differences in police interactions. The mechanic’s response is considered to be standard for older generations of black folk in which you do as you are told without talking back to a police officer. However, as the social tides have shifted, the younger generations of black people are incensed by constant visuals and videos of slain innocent black women and men at the hands of police officers and white vigilantes. These younger folks also feel more empowered to do something about it and we see this in the mechanic’s son and his interaction with a police officer at a protest. The older generation does not necessarily agree with the response of Queen and Slim, but we also experience the increasing rage, wrath and recklessness of the younger generation.
- The viewer will likely assume that the southern, white married couple who houses and hides them from the police officers will turn them over after the wife expresses her disagreement of housing and feeding fugitives within their home. But they don’t and, in fact, go to jail because of it, reinforcing the notion that not all southern, white people are bad or complicit in the wrongful actions of other white people (i.e. police officers, politicians, judges, bystanders, etc.).
- The viewer may be confused by the sex scene of Queen and Slim in the car. The sensual love-making, body movements of Queen and Slim juxtaposed against the violence outbreak in the street protest directly aligns with slavery days. Historically, black people have always had to find something beautiful in a world of hate, chaos, and fury whirling around and controlling their lives. This is why black love is so very special; it is the refuge we seek in the arms of another that shares the same experiences in oppression, abuse, and death that surround us. It is the beauty we find in others that look like us despite the ugliness that encloses around us.
- The couple also runs into many other black and brown strangers who know very well what occurred through a viral video and decide to assist them along their journey, by buying food and providing free drinks. Moreover, there are some that even look up to the couple as super-heroes almost. However, not all of them keep the couple safe and protected. Given the help from these black and brown people, it is still a black man that betrays them to receive the bounty.
- The couple makes it so far into their journey that naïve viewers may falsely hope they successfully escape the evil clutches of American authority to Cuba. But they don’t, emphasizing the notion and reality that there are many black and brown children, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends that will not make it home after an encounter with the police and will forever become immortal because of it.
Although sorrowful, this story is liberating for me. It is honest in depicting the black experience. It is enlightening to your own biases for both black and white people. It is just REALLY BLACK through and through from the music selection to the style of dress. I want so badly to be Queen in my own story. Not to be a martyr or immortal, but to embody the true meaning of legacy in my own story and Jon’s story. To really ride and die for the person I love most. Having watched this movie, I realize that I am still a living legacy for Jon and this movie encourages me to really ride and die for him as I progress in this life.
All in all, this is an instant ‘black’ film classic. It will be one of those movies syndicated on BET along with ‘Juice’, ‘Boyz in the Hood’, ‘The Temptations’, ‘Tina Turner’, ‘Love & Basketball’, ‘Love Jones’, ‘Lean On Me’, and the like. It is a story that crystallizes the current times. I hope that America sees her reflection within this movie and realizes what she really looks like: beautiful on the outside yet troubled on the inside.