A review: Anna Deavere Smith's new HBO film, "Notes From the Field."
I just finished watching Anna Deavere Smith's new film on HBO, the movie version of her award-winning one-woman show. This is an excellent film. Smith enacts her documentary dramatization by telling the stories of African Americans who were portrayed in recent current events. She speaks as those people, relating the maddening stupidity of America's School-to-Prison Pipeline by capturing a moment in time from the lives of 18 people.
She transforms herself into the characters she is recreating before a live audience, capturing each person’s speech patterns, their demeanor and emotional responses. Smith does her costume changes seamlessly throughout her performance as the production crew resets the stage for each person she becomes. Video footage and photographs ripped from the headlines are displayed in the background. The audience gets a glimpse into the powerful vignettes she creates. Smith’s heart wrenching performance is a haunting commentary on our social justice system.
Watch Anna Deavere Smith's thought provoking film, it's well worth your time.
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