Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris
Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris
1971 · Short · UK, France
27m
An extremely rare film document photographed by Jack Hazan (Rude Boy, A Bigger Splash) in several symbolic locations, including the Place de la Bastille. As Hazan recounts: “Things don’t go to plan for him and the film crew when a couple of young black Vietnam draft dodgers impose themselves on the American. Baldwin wrestles with being a role model to the black youths, denouncing Western colonialism and crimes against African Americans while at the same time demonstrating his mastery and understanding of the culture he supposedly despises.”
lettucel0rd!
4.5
this documentary was ultimately a failure — attempts to meet James Baldwin, interview him and connect with him ended up dissolving into a mess of miscommunication, frustration, and the building awareness that the interviewers and Baldwin were experiencing the world in two entirely different ways. In a way, that’s what reveals the doc’s brilliance and message. in spite of its failures, it ends up becoming a microcosm of exactly what Baldwin is trying to explain to the interviewers. this colors the film with a layer of irony — in an attempt to pick the brain of one of the greatest literary minds of our generation, they fail so spectacularly that they reveal an entirely different, but (imo) even more important truth about race in the modern world.
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