Rating: 
Summary: Good Idea, poor execution
Review: The basic idea of this film is a good one-"what would happen if the tables were turned." And there are good moments, such as the White kid wanting a Black doll and seeing nothing but Blacks on tv that do a good job of getting the message across, but midway through the picture, this is pushed aside and it becomes just another action thriller. However, the scenes of rich Black neighborhoods and poor White neighborhoods aren't all that potent, as such communities do exist in real life.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing is Black and White when it's Topsy-Turvy
Review: The premise for this movie is simple. Dark skinned people have power, money and privilege. White skinned people ape them, resent them, suck up to them, and are scorned, oppressed, and humiliated by them. Travolta, as a fired factory worker, and Belafonte, as the factory owner, do quite a decent job of carrying the movie. The plot is a bit cliched and the ending comes as no surprise. But the emotional power of seeing a racial power reversal makes this a movie worth watching.It also is one of the movie's biggest drawbacks. Considering race alone, while ignoring other oppressive social structures and patterns, was simple, but also simplistic. In melodramatizing Travolta's violent response to Belafonte's callousness, it missed the opportunity to be a far more complex vehicle considering the oppression of hierarchical systems, even to members of the dominant race and gender. Dominator political and social systems go unquestioned in the movie, which only examines the racial aspects of oppression. Too bad--this could have been great. Worth every one of the three stars I gave it. It's a great movie to kick off a discussion of racism and privilege. (If you'd like to discuss this movie or review further, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)
Rating: 
Summary: White Man's Burden
Review: This could be the film that is needed to refer to right now as whites and blacks in this culture finally begin to circle each other, trying to decide how best to get down and dirty with that damn bugaboo of race and it's shadow players of class, justice and power. John Travolta plays Louis Pinnock, a factory worker for See's Candies with a history of exemplary company loyalty working his way towards a promotion. He's been with the company many years, dutifully doing his job, looking forward to the day, any day now, that he'll finally get his much-deserved promotion to foreman. He has a wife, a little boy, a small house in the part of the city that doesn't have any sidewalks, and some sort of problem with pride because his wife (Kelly Lynch) wants to work, but Louis gives her the evil eye every time she brings it up. One day after work, just at quitting time, Louis's boss asks Louis and his coworker if one of them could take a small package across town to drop off to Thaddeus Thomas (Harry Belafonte) the owner of the company who has an estate. Louis steps forward and grabs the package immediately, even though he'll be delivering it on his own time and happily takes his beat-up old white truck across town to deliver the package. When he gets to the estate of Mr. Thomas he ends up approaching it from the back way without realizing it, walks up to the house, looks up and inadvertently sees Mr. Thomas's wife nude through an upstairs window. Mr. Thomas, who is watching him through the window as he stands right next to his unclothed wife, says to Louis' boss on the phone "Send another delivery boy next time. Not another peeping tom." These few words set off a chain reaction that ricochets for the rest of the movie, serpentining it's way through the issue of color by presenting a mirror image for society to see: Louis and his family (in fact ALL whites in this picture) live in a black world. When Louis's little boy flips the channels on the remote control, EVERY television station has nothing but black faces. Black game shows. Black soap operas. Black news broadcasts with violators referred to as "Caucasian". Black commercials. The family of Mr. Thomas all sit around, fat and happy, at their gigantic dinner table talking about how inferior the white race is. Scary? Wait until you see the look of incredulous horror of Thaddeus' face when he sees one white man gun down another. What screenwriter and first time director Desmond Nakano (Last Exit To Brooklyn, American Me) has created is a horror movie for white folk, and this SHOULD scare the white folk who have never thought twice about their hegemony in society, and the responsibility it brings. Since he has directly inverted the equation, the question of skin color is shown to be completely moot as the real underlying issues of class and power are revealed to be the causes they really are, not the effects. This is a film about a situation that gets out of hand due to a simple misunderstanding that is dealt with so offhandedly that the ensuing consequences were never even contemplated by the perpetrator and they come back not only to haunt him, but to place him on the threshold of death's door. I don't want to reveal any more of the plot for a reason: The script is so good that when law-abiding Louis finds himself in the worst of all desperate situations, scene follows scene so haphazardly as a reflection of his thought processes because he has completely freaked out. He has no idea what he is going to do next, and the tension of the film is wound so tightly because the film is through Louis's eyes, and there is nothing more dangerous than a criminal who has not thought out his own motivation. John Travolta's performance is exceptional because he doesn't have any of his standard suave moves or cool facade to lean back on, ala Pulp Fiction or Get Shorty. He's a blue-collar worker who has become accustomed to his lower rung in society, yet has accepted his responsibilities with pride and diligence. He has been a considerate, patient, law-abiding citizen his whole life and has worked hard for his position and his family, no matter how slightly above the poverty line he may be swimming, and when he realizes that all he's worked so hard for means nothing to the heartless authority figures that begin to circle around him like vultures who insist on remaining oblivious to his circumstance he begins to behave like a cornered rat. When the film is over and the cards have fallen where they have, what is left is a tragedy that, like all tragedies, could have been so easily avoided if only two minutes of someone's time could have been negotiated. Take someone you know to this film. Take that person who you know as an acquaintance whom you've never wanted to have as a friend just because they don't understand it's not about the color of someone's skin, it's about character. Talk to them extensively about the issues in this film on your way home. Make sure they get it.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth in full color............................LMAO!
Review: This movie represents all minorities, considering that Africans were the most exploited and tortured in American history. This movie is about putting racism on the other foot, where the world is a black world view and ran by Black ppl. John Travolta did a excellent job of portraying a oppressed man with a son, who is looking for a break in a system of biasness and discrimination. Harry Belafonte plays the obnoxious bigot who doesnt see his ignorance.....................This movie represents how prejudice the american system is and how politics play a strong role in determining the have and the have nots. In my opinion the majority of americans would prosper at whatever if given the opportunity, so its not just a lack of self motivation but political dupery played on ppl time and time again. Especially on minorities of all colors.....................nuff said!
Rating:
Summary: Skewed Stereotypes
Review: This movie takes a 180 degree turn on the stereotypes given to blacks and whites. In it, it is the blacks who are in control, educated, and well-spoken. The whites live in the slums, work the low wage jobs, and commit most of the crime. All the black cops are racist, all the black bosses look down on their white employees, and all the rich black people are snobby and superficial. All the poor whites are criminals, prideful and have over-nagging mother-in-laws. It was rather fascinating to see the various racial stereotypes turned on their heads; what better way to show us how rediculous such broad generalizations are than by giving them to groups who we never would have thought of in that way?
Rating:
Summary: An excellent movie about racism issues in america!
Review: This movie tells about the upper class community in america between a rich black man factory boss president played by Harry Belafonte and a white worker (John Travolta). All of the sudden one of his cilents kidnaps him and helds Belafonte hostage for losing Travolta's job. Wonderful performances and a great story dealing with it's issue about race to black & white people!
Rating:
Summary: Stereotype reversal changes perspective
Review: This movie was very interesting on many levels. It reverses the role of the black man and the white man based on heavy stereotypes. The black man is wealthy and powerful and the white man is poor and lives in slums. I believe the filmmakers made it this way for at least two reasons. One is you get the point of the movie better, as it's backwards to what we see everyday in the news and that. Second it takes away from the typical movie. Most movies involving rich black people normally portray them as hip-hop rappers decked out in gold chains and driving Impala's with hydraulics. This is not the case in White Man's Burden. They are portrayed as business men, with wives dressed in fancy gowns and dresses. The men wear suits and ties, and the kids are similarly dressed to the T. Without giving away the plot of the movie, it is the struggle of a hard worker and his boss. How a typical employee of a large company is just a number to the corporate boss. I feel this movie is different in how the roles are reversed, black man is corporate boss, white man is typical employee.
Rating:
Summary: Could Have Been So Much More
Review: To summarize this film: All whites live in the ghetto, and all blacks live in mansions. In a role reversal that is supposed to open people's eyes, blacks are the ruling class and whites are the oppressed. The problem here is that only extremes are shown. Where is the middle class? Where are the Hispanics? Where are the Asians? This movie could have made a powerful statement on class in America. Instead, it wallows in a poorly-conceived mellodrama about racial role reversals. What a disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: White Man's Burden
Review: White Man's Burden is a movie based on white vs. black, and lower class vs. upper class. The blacks are rich. They own all the businesses and live in the nice neighborhoods and as for whites, which are poor, they live in the ghettos. John Travolta plays a character that loses his job because his boss (played by Harry Belafonte) does not like that Travolta saw his wife in the nude. Travolta tries to talk to his boss about why he was fired, but his boss doesn't have time to see. Travolta decides that his only option is to kidnap his boss. During this time he tries to convince Belafonte that he owes his something for firing him.
This movie does a great job on explaining how we judge each other, and is worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: White Man's Burden
Review: White Man's Burden is the cliche'd story of a poor black man whose life begins to disintegrate after he unjustly looses his job. His wife and child leave him and when he confronts the white establishment looking for what was owed him, he is enraged to discover that this man who has destroyed his life doesn't know who he is ( or even cares). In his rage, the black man kidnaps this man and sets into motion a series of events that lead to the moment when, out of compassion and kindness, the black man attempts to help the white man get emergency medical care. It is at this point that the police intervene, shoot, and kill the black man. The twist on this story is that the stereotypical black characters are now white (Travolta et al) and the stereotypic white characters are now black (Belafonte et al). Director Desmond Nakano uses role reversal in an attempt to make his audience identify with a side of the racial / discrimination issue that they might not normally consider.
Is this great cinema - no. Is it a fresh take on this story - no. It's not even particularly enlightened storytelling - the characters are stereotypes that do not provide the viewer with any new insight or observation. Where this movie succeeds is in its ability to spark conversation. This movie should be viewed by families, by groups of friends, and especially in our high schools, as a catalyst for discussion about race, discrimination, and stereotyping. This is truly a "black and white" movie as there is no representation of any other minority. However, this leaves the door to discussion open all the wider. How are Hispanics, Asians, homosexuals, fundamentalists (etc.) treated in comparison? White Man's Burden succeeds in creating a common experience from which its audience can then embark into enlightenment through the sharing of both experiences, and the reality of the way we treat each other in this world. Therein lies this movies value.
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