Adapted from Osha Gray Davidson’s book and directed by Robin Bissell, The Best of Enemies lines up with other racial and civil rights themes movies of late. It is a story that needs to be seen and is a timely drama.
Bissell makes his directorial debut based on producing several successful and influential movies like The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit, and The Free State of Jones.
The stellar cast includes Taraji P. Henson and Oscar winner Sam Rockwell.
Attributed to actual events during the racially-charged summer of 1971 in Durham, North Carolina, the movie follows the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, played by Henson, an outspoken civil rights activist. C.P. Ellis, played by Rockwell, a local Ku Klux Klan leader,
Ellis reluctantly co-chaired a community summit that dealt with the debate and battle regarding the desegregation of schools in Durham, North Carolina. The improbable events that unfolded and changed Durham as well as the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.
The movie also stars Anne Heche and Wes Bentley.
The featurette introduces the dramatization of the two people who are in this movie. It is incredible to think that these two people became friends in the Deep South.
The two movie clips show Henson entirely morphed into Atwater. She makes it look so easy. The movie is not box office material, but Henson’s performance is worth an Oscar nomination.
I watched Bissell’s soundbites, and I ended up liking him. He is a smart man who sees the importance of telling a good story about a phenomenal woman.
Henson’s soundbites are different from Bissell’s because she seems unassuming. Yet, she is fantastic as Atwater.
Rockwell and Henson do an interview together, and it’s worth watching because they have so much admiration for each other.
The Ann Atwater featurette tells about the story.
