Black Panther

Watching this film was long overdue... I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Wow. The layers.

There are so many facets of this movie which make it transcend the genre of an "action packed superhero movie". It's not just about the strength of the Black Panther, or the fact that he is a good and righteous man, and blah blah blah. But it also dares to explore the complexity of African perception in the world. Most of us (let's face it) think of Africa as a third world continent, and the movie brings to light that the abuse of colonizers all has led to severe discrimination of Africans (slavery, and its evolved forms: mass incarceration, etc.) around the world.

Wakanda defies all the stereotypes that we lay on Africa. It's rich, powered by the most strong metal in the world, "Veranium" (fictional), and has the best technology mankind has ever laid eyes on. Women are empowering and thrive there as soldiers and scientists. Its trains run on advanced magnetism. It is beautiful, and its people are colorful and peaceful.

The complexity is brought quite nicely into the picture through the villain of the movie, Erik Killmonger, who is not so much a heartless monster, as a product of the violence, injustice and cruelty that African Americans have been facing till now. How much is Wakanda to blame for not stepping up to the unfairness faced by people of African descent around the world? Killmonger thinks a lot. To him, justice is dethroning T'Challa (Black Panther, current Wakandan King) and using Wakanda's vibranium to "colonize the colonizers" and take revenge upon white supremacy. Of course, this is all fueled by anger and hatred, which makes Killmonger need to be stopped, but it raises some very serious questions about whether Wakanda should in fact play a larger role in bridging the gap between Wakandan abundance and African poverty around the world.

That makes the pursuit of defeating Erik Killmonger not so much a good vs evil battle, but rather a wakeup call to the Wakandans.

T'Challa is portrayed in the movie as someone who is pure of heart and good, but who needs to make the penultimate decision to take Wakanda out of its luxurious safety net. He is surrounded by smart and strong women: his sister Shuri: chief scientist of all gadgets and architecture that fuels Wakanda and his black panther suit, his chief general: the nimble and strong Okoye, and his ex-lover Nakia:  refugee saver and mighty warrior. It seems that he is in equal footing in power with all of them, which makes the movie a breathe of fresh air from the typical male dominating superhero films.

The visuals are spectacular, the Wakandans, in their bright and colorful costumes shine with powerful culture, even the Mountain tribe that play as competitors to the Wakandans, are portrayed with gusto. The basal beat throughout the movie is steady and compelling, and the special effects with the gadgets are high quality.

I would therefore, recommend this film. It's more than just good vs bad as I mentioned before, but it also shows what righteousness and honor would be for a situation as complex as this. And I just loved the African empowerment that reminds us all to not underestimate anybody out there in the world.