#188: Boyz N The Hood

Boyz N the Hood (1991)
Written and Directed by John Singleton
Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Regina King.


A few years ago, journalism became the focal point of my life. I consumed everything I could get my hands on to further my understanding of the world, give my point of view added perspective. I read about Vietnam, the Holocaust, Watergate and the Civil Rights Movement.

The thing about journalism for the most part is the story-teller is often distanced from the story itself. It's professionalism. It's objectivity. And in some cases it fails to tell a story properly, sometimes emotion and understanding are necessary for the story to have impact even if it shows a slight bias.

John Singleton essentially filmed a documentary but it was scripted and acted. Everything in Boyz N The Hood stems from what he witnessed in California. He was 23 when he directed it and he was telling the story from fresh eyes.

It's almost Shakespearean in a way watching Tre (Gooding) struggle against what his gangster friends are falling into -- their pre-determined spot in poverty and gang violence -- and what his father Furious (Fishburne) preaches to him about rising above it.

Yes it's about race, but -- and pardon the pun -- it's not just black and white. This is about the cycle of violence. It's a mature concept tackled professionally by a young first-time director. Furious speaks to the point that it had gone beyond racism and the cycle had been completed and inner city African American kids were slowly sliding into violent lives and their kids were too. These people fought other gangs, and those gangs were made up of people very similar in life cycles. On an individual basis a decision is needed in order to get out. This is Tre's dilemma; escape and abandon his friends or join him and eventually kill or be killed.

Boyz n the Hood is a phenomenal film. It's got strong performances, a good script and a clear and crisp message with force behind it. It's never convoluted, it just simply is what it is. Almost like a documentary.