![]() ![]() Characters occasionally imbibe, and spend time in a bar, but it is background to the action and story. While the actual assault takes place out of frame, the characters’ upper bodies can be seen, and it is very clear what is happening. However, there is one very upsetting scene where a woman is assaulted “Trump Access Hollywood” style. Violence is not as bad as I expected, though guns are brandished and even shot into a house. Racist attitudes, expressions, judgments, and stereotypes proliferate throughout the film. In addition to a few other minor expletives, the language of the film - and I mean the content of the language - is at times very difficult to listen to. True to the time and place, racial slurs abound, and while I tried to keep track of how frequently the N-word was used, I’m sure I miscounted, since it slipped into almost every conversation. The movie focuses on the battle for those votes between Atwater and Ellis, and their own personal struggle to keep talking to each other, despite their extreme ideological differences. The final decision is made by a group of twelve voters with representatives from several factions in the community. ![]() For some it confirms their deepest prejudices and fears, and for others it becomes transformative. Opposing members of the community spend time with each other during the charrette, and the effect on participating members varies dramatically. ![]() The charrette becomes a crucible of confrontation and change, with Atwater and Ellis as pivotal and symbolic enemies. The decision process is transformed into a charrette (a debate where many stakeholders come together to solve challenging problems), orchestrated by professional mediator Bill Riddick (Babou Ceesay). After a fire destroys the African-American elementary school in 1971, civil rights activists, including Atwater, sue for school integration. Ellis (Sam Rockwell), President of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter, and their fight over school integration in Durham, North Carolina. Henson), a civil rights activist, and C.P. The Best of Enemies is the 50-year-old, ripped-from-the-headlines, true story of Ann Atwater (Taraji P. ![]()
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