Alicia Askenase

One must bear in mind that this movie is based on a play by the remarkable, and honorable Black playwright, August Wilson. Add Viola Davis as Ma Rainey and Chadwich Boseman as the ebullient and rebellious trumpet player, as well as the other laudable acting by the rest of the band, and the movie deserves evert accolade it has, and should receive. Viola embodies Ma Rainey in every possible way, and she mesmerizes. Boseman’s character channels anger and ambition bursting at the seams, bordering on madness, brought on by witnessing terrible acts of racist violence against his mother and father as a young boy. August Wilson creates another complicated, and deeply painful story about the reactions to racism, often leading to tragedy. The film skillfully displays the overbearing power of the White man, begun during slavery, and continued through the time of Ma Rainey, the struggle never abated, into the 20th, and our current century.