Starring: Greg Kinnear, René Zellweger, Djimon Hounsou, Jon Voight, Olivia Holt, Geraldine Singer
Distributor: Rialto Films
Runtime: 119 mins. Reviewed in May 2020
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As the title indicates, this is about human similarities and differences, in the context of American society, black and white. In fact, the words of the title are spoken by the central black character, Denver Moore (Djimon Hounsou), at the funeral of his white friend, a woman he admired and who had asked that he speak at her funeral, Debbie Hall (René Zellweger). His friend is Ron Hall ( Greg Kinnear).
This is the kind of film that gets the label “inspirational”. And so it is. However, it is not a fiction. It is based on the story of the three central characters, actual characters from Texas. In the event, Denver and Ron collaborate on a book about their stories, their tentative meetings, the growing friendship, all in the context of a soup kitchen and the outreach to the homeless. After they completed the book, they toured the United States, a speaking tour, a fundraising tour, donations which were in the millions.
At first the film seems to be the story of Ron, an art dealer, driving to stay with an artist friend to write a book. Then it goes back two years. Ron seems to be something of a celebrity, happily married to Debbie, two children. Then we find that he has been unfaithful to her, his lover urging him to tell the truth to his wife, his doing so, her dismay, her ringing the lover to say that she forgave her, forgiving her husband.
In some ways, Debbie seems too good to be true. But she is good. She works diligently at the soup kitchen, getting Ron, who is rather reluctant as might be imagined, to help her with the serving. One of the clients of the soup kitchen is an irascible man, causing a lot of disruptions, seemingly absorbed in himself and his woes. This is Denver Moore.
In fact, the story of Ron and Debbie seems rather matter-of-fact all things considered. And so the film veers towards the story of Denver himself, Ron making some outreaches towards him, Denver gradually being accepting, and Denver then telling his stories, taking the audience and Ron into his past through flashbacks.
The audience is taken back to the cotton fields, the world of slavery, Denver as a boy, living in poverty, as an adolescent, working in the cotton fields, his desire to run away, discovering the wonders of town life which amazed him, but his bad decision, an attempted robbery, years in prison.
While Denver admires Debbie, he comes to like Ron, who gets him some better clothes, and even takes him to an art gallery where he makes astute comments on Picasso.
This also sadness in the film, but an atmosphere of joy and triumph at Debbie’s funeral, the applause at Denver’s speech (a standing ovation, even including Ron’s quite bigoted alcoholic father, played with quite some aggression by Jon Voight).
This is a film for ordinary cinemagoers who are prepared to welcome a story of good people, their struggles, triumph over evil. It has a high profile central cast. (But some audiences, especially some critics, don’t have an appetite for seeing goodness in film, preferring more dramatic conflicts between good and evil.)
There are photos of the two men in the final credits – and a clip of the actual Denver speaking on tour.
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
12 Random Films…
