Wipe Your Feet

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2018)

I refused to watch this movie for some time. It seemed too political and as a cinephile, I didn't want the indoctrination -- I get enough of that reading the papers. Brain-washing, after all, is a young man's game.
Once I realized the star of Mudbound was Carey Mulligan, I was obligated to at the very least, give it a cursory view. I owe her for Never Let Me Go, and am currently watching with more than just a little disappointment, Collateral, a British miniseries for the same reason.
Yet, one of the movies I will ever cherish is Carey Mulligan's Never Let Me Go. That is why we watch the stuff Hollywood foists upon us, to feel something, to understand something about our lives, about ourselves.
Never Let Me Go took me, and it never let me go.
Carey Mulligan gets at least a glance from me, for whatever, and for however long, and in this, she is worth the look. Her face says everything and her reading of the character tells you about her and the character.
Yet, she didn't need me. This film is excellent. In my opinion, it should have won the 2017 Best Film Oscar. It's sad and sweet, and at the risk of sounding like a take-out food menu, it is more than a little sour, for it illuminates what happens to people who are good with no options, and those who could do much better if not for societal restrictions.
It is about life, and the way we live it -- how we have no other option but to compromise between what we believe in and know is right, and what we realize what will give us one more day.
It is not something I will ever forget.
With this, and the afore mentioned film, Carey owns me. At least, I will always watch her stuff.
And, I will not be so kind to Collateral.
Yet, if you are given the opportunity to watch this, ignore the hype. It is not about oppression and the trickling sorrow of slavery's injustice, although that is surely there.
It is about family, hope, friendship, and love -- just as all great movies are.