George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin,” executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, is a stand up and cheer movie, arguably the best Hollywood civil rights feature ever made. While 1988’s ahistorical “Mississippi Burning” made FBI agents the heroes of the desegregation struggle, “Rustin” is an impassioned, historically accurate movie brought vividly alive with stellar acting, keen-eyed direction, and incisive writing that’s never cliched. Colman Domingo stars as the title character, Bayard Rustin, who dreamt up the idea of a massive march on Washington to push John F. Kennedy to the left, and advocate for the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
From conception to execution, Rustin, a master organizer, successfully pulls together the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in only about two months. In doing so, the gay African American and former Young Communist League member, redeems himself in the eyes of the leadership of the cause, which had exiled him to the political boondocks after the powerful Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (played by a haughty Jeffrey Wright), outraged by Rustin’s plan to protest at the 1960 Democratic National Convention, threatened to release a letter falsely alleging a homosexual relationship between the uncloseted Rustin and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (played by Aml Ameen).
Following his exile and prior to the March on Washington, Rustin is relegated to campaigning for the War Resisters League (before its heyday of anti-Vietnam War draft card burners), where Bill Irwin portrays A.J. Muste, the onetime Trotskyist who led the 1934 mass strike of auto workers in Toledo, Ohio and served on the WRL’s national committee. Indeed, Rustin is a who’s who of the American left’s leaders circa 1963, including: Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) executive director; Maxwell Whittington-Cooper as John Lewis, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) chair; Audra McDonald as SNCC’s Ella Baker; Rashad Demond Edwards as Medgar Evers, the NAACP’s first Mississippi field secretary.
Rustin’s dream of a huge demonstration in the nation’s capital plucks him out of political obscurity. “Rustin” chronicles the campaign to bring hundreds of thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to Washington and is a primer in peaceful protest.
During the recent upsurge in antiwar mass actions at the United States Capitol, on college campuses, and beyond, today’s activists can learn much from this movie, a textbook case in how to mobilize the multitudes, and would do well to study it, just as the Black Panthers once educated themselves in urban guerrilla warfare by viewing Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 “The Battle of Algiers.”
Backed by an astounding supporting cast, Domingo delivers an outstanding, Oscar-worthy performance as Rustin, whose open homosexuality and socialist advocacy—when both were strictly taboo in puritanical, patriarchal, racist, capitalist America—didn’t stop him from inspiring the quarter million-strong march that remains unforgotten. Even 60 years later, we all remember the Aug. 28, 1963, outpouring at the National Mall that rocked the world, where Reverend King articulated his dream of a beloved community of brotherhood and sisterhood for all. It was the Woodstock for Civil Rights.
The screenplay is co-written by Julian Breece, who co-wrote Ava DuVernay’s 2019 Netflix miniseries about the Central Park Five, “When They See Us,” and Dustin Lance Black, who won the Best Writing, Original Screenplay Oscar for 2008’s “Milk.” “Rustin” is unflinching in its depiction of Rustin’s homosexuality and his relationships with men, and is essential viewing for anyone interested in LGBTQ+ issues.
George C. Wolfe’s deft direction strikes just the right tone. He sparingly uses archival footage and photos but prefers to evoke the times being depicted with his own original camerawork. Wolfe elicits wonderful portrayals from his large cast, notably, of course, from Domingo, but also from Ameen as King and Rock as a calculating Wilkins, who grudgingly embraces Rustin and his undeniable, incalculable contribution to the cause.
“Rustin” is the seventh film released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions. Curiously, the politics in the production company’s films are more progressive than Barack Obama was during his centrist presidency. For instance, Higher Ground’s 2019 “American Factory,” which won an Academy Award and Emmy in documentary categories, was co-directed by Julia Reichert, who had previously made 1976’s pro-labor “Union Maids” and 1983’s “Seeing Red,” about why people joined the Communist Party USA.
“Rustin”’s grand finale is supremely moving and just about says it all. After the successful march, John F. Kennedy—who had feared an outbreak of violence during what turned out to be a very peaceful demonstration—summoned the leaders to meet with him at the White House. But instead of joining them at the executive mansion, Rustin says and does something that I won’t reveal here and spoil for you—but it simply has to be heard and seen to be believed, as it rather cleverly sums up Rustin’s egalitarian credo.
One of the best pictures of 2023, this 108-minute tour de force restores Rustin to his rightful place in the left’s pantheon. Those who lived through and participated in the movement to end segregation will enjoy reliving their glory days, while younger viewers will find inspiration in this spirited retelling of hallowed history.
Ed Rampell is a film historian and critic based in Los Angeles. Rampell is the author of “Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States” and he co-authored “The Hawaii Movie and Television Book,” now in its third edition. This first appeared at Progressive.org.
From The Progressive Populist, December 15, 2023
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