Hustle and Flow- doesn't glamorize, only realizes

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2005)

Just saw this film today and I have to say I was intrigued and drawn into the film. Howard's portrayal of a drug-dealer/pimp in a mid life crisis is pure and true. This movie is about a man who has made the wrong decisions and wants to make right. Right in whatever it takes. RIght in the only way he knows how. It's not here to glamorize the lifestyle of a pimp. It's not here to say drug dealing is OK. It's here to show that people make bad decisions and you can change. None of the images or lifestyle make the life of a Memphis Pimp enviable or desirable. Come on, if you say this, did you actually see the movie?? In fact, a God loving Black man with a wife, a respectable paying job, whom D-Jay respects and listens to, is the character of hope.
The character's feel real, real in a way of the area they live in. You get drawn into them, believe them. This movie is not a poster child for anti-drugs, it's not a poster child for blacks who live in a crime free environment, it's a poster child for people living in hard times and hard ways. To find your faults and try to change. The imagery alone was to the respect of the film. Grainy and raw, no special effects here, no glossy imagery. Blown out stylization is nil, this is not a music video. Come'on the guy drives a beat up Cutty with a bad paint job.
As for people saying the ending is anti-climatic. Well what did you want??? A high speed car chase lasting 15 minutes, a no-holds bar shootout with explosions and draining bullet shells??? NO, the only thing this film gives IS a sense of hope. A hope for people who have gone down the bad road and can take these roads "less" traveled and use them to help themselves and the people around them. Life isn't easy folks and just because this film shows the hard side of life, doesn't mean it glamorizes it.
Hollywood didn't want to make it, because no Black men die. Sure there's confrontation, sure there's strife and sure there's street activity, but to go and say that this is negative is to forget that fact that most blacks live in this. Live in this environment. just like D-Jay's lyrics say " this may be new to you, but I've lived with it for years."
Kudos and respect, I give it a "10" just for staying real.