The setting is the key here. The film has to show the differences between the lives of white and black people in the Deep South of the 1960s. Aerial views of the large estates of the Holbrooks, Phelans, and Footes are juxtaposed against the darker ground views of small one-story houses where maids live. We see black people sitting in the back of the bus. We see a cab door marked “Whites Only.” The scenes of the black maids in uniforms getting on and off the bus to get to their jobs at the estates are subtle but evocative images that we don’t get a full sense of in the book. Most of these pictures seem to occur naturally because they are the history of this place in this time. The film can show more of these features and do so at a quicker pace than the book can, and without further explanation.
The film is also good at depicting the time period of the early 1960s in general. The cars are from the era. People smoke proudly, indoors and out. The Junior League women wear pearl necklaces, colorful knee-length dresses or capri pants, and bouffant hairstyles. Popular songs of the day are heard in the background. The mix of visuals and sounds take the viewers directly to this time and place, so we can understand its color divide as well. We know this is the way it WAS. As we watch the film we realize that for some, this is the way it still IS.
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