What You Gonna Do … ? – Movie Review

Recently at Film At Lincoln Center, I attended the opening of the new documentary by Roberto Minervini , “What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire?”.

Synopsis

Given the current social climate, what is life like for members of the Black community in the southern portion of The United States?

Story

Ronaldo and Titus are brothers; Ronaldo, being the older of the two, is very protective of his younger brother Titus.  It’s unclear what other friends these kids have because it seems as though they only play with each other. They lack a consistent male influence in their life because their father is currently locked up.  Since nature abhors a vacuum, Ronaldo desperately tries to fill that void for Titus while still trying to balance that role with continuing to be a child himself. Unfortunately, given where they live, both boys are at risk of being shot because of the high crime and easy availability of guns.  

 

Judy is a New Orleans entrepreneur.  She owns and runs a popular bar in the neighborhood and when not working, takes care of her elderly mother.  Despite its frequent regular customers, the business is in danger of closing. A good deal of the problem can be traced to the gentrification that seems to be running rampant throughout.  Many long-time residents are being forced to move as the area becomes more upscale. Not only that, but Judy herself is feeling the pinch since her landlord is raising the rent on her bar.  With an ever-shrinking customer base, will Judy be able to make enough money to keep her establishment viable?

Crystal is an activist for Black causes.  She runs the local chapter of The New Black Panthers.  With news reports of lynchings and police shootings of Black men throughout the deep south, Crystal is understandably and justifiably disgusted.  She takes her small loyal army-like group to various protests of police headquarters and government offices, despite great risk of arrest. In addition, the group attempts to inform and educate others in the community about their reason for existing in the first place.  Racism is alive and well in this political era and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon.     

 

Review

Perhaps the most heartwarming part of “What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire?” is watching the relationship between the two brothers, Titus and Ronaldo; these two boys genuinely love and adore each other.  Titus truly looks up to his big brother Ronaldo and gets visibly upset when he is disappointed by him. Ronaldo, with their absentee father, assumes a role that combines both older brother and father; despite his own youth and inexperience, he does his best to mentor Titus, take care of him and look out for him.  It is one of the few bright spots in what is an otherwise grim documentary.

All of that having been said, the imperfections of the documentary are unavoidable to the point of distraction.  Presumably, the choice of shooting in black and white is to illustrate the bleakness of the situation. Although it illustrates both necessary and valuable stories to share, it doesn’t necessarily do a terribly good job of telling those stories.  There is no voice-over narration or use of on-screen titles to provide context (e.g., Who are we seeing? Where are they? What period of time has passed since the previous scene?). As a result, there is very little in the way of either shape or structure to the film.  From a narrative standpoint, it’s a bit flat

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Following the screening, there was an interview with Director Roberto Minervini and two of the movie’s subjects, Judy Hill and Crystal.  Minervini said that he originally set out to do a shoot about the music tradition of the Black community – specifically, his interest was the African influence on Jazz.  However, he got sidetracked when he visited Judy’s bar and wound up spending a great deal of time there. As he got a chance to meet more members of the community, he realized that there was a completely new and different story he could and should be telling.