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The Movie: From producers R.J. Cutler and Ice Cube, "Black.White." is an interesting (if not always successful) exploration of what it's like to walk in another person's shoes. Cutler recently did something similar with director Morgan Spurlock in "30 Days" (in that show, people had to experience someone else's life - for example, a couple of big city folks had to go live in a commune.) For "Black.White.", however, the reversal is more controversial. The series takes two families: a white family named the Wurgels ( Carmen and Bruno, and their daughter Rose) and the other an African-American family named the Sparks (Brian and Renee, and their son Nick) and, through pretty remarkable make-up work, makes the African-American family appear white and vice-versa. The two families live in a house in California and occasionally sit in the living room or around the dinner table and discuss their thoughts on their experiences. The make-up work is generally convincing, although some of the participants fare a bit better than others in terms of their make-up jobs looking convincing. As for the actual experiment, it's interesting to see, although some of the participants take to it better than others. Bruno seems unwilling to accept that people live differently than he does and that racism exists today in many forms. Bruno's attempt at a rap video is incredibly bizarre and cringe-inducing. Carmen seems naive, calling Renee a "bitch" during a session with a dialect coach, not realizing that it's not okay to use that term. Rose fares better; being in the midst of an African-American poetry class raises her anxiety, but she manages to throw herself into the situation and is very interested to be involved and learn. When she has to tell the group the truth, it's a painful and emotional moment for her, as she's become friends with the other students and hates having lied to them. Nick isn't seen participating all that often, but is in one of the show's most powerful moments when he gets a talk from an ex-convict about changing his life. Halfway through, Brian and Renee realize that they need to spend more time teaching their son more about his culture. An issue regarding the series is exactly how authentic it is. How does the presence of the camera influence any of the scenes? Additionally, while it may not have made a difference, Rose and Bruno are actors with a fairly decent-sized list of credits to their name. The show does sometimes seem staged and some stretches seem a little repetitive as episodes can feel rather similar at times. Additionally, it's a little frustrating that personalities clash and, by the end of the series, the participants (due to some more than others) have not found a way to really openly communicate. There's a fair amount of solo interviews with the participants and I wondered if that time would be better spent having the participants talking to each other instead. Bruno (who stubbornly sticks to his way of thinking) and Brian end things just agreeing to disagree. Others seem to have gained some understanding by the time the series have concluded, but it seems somewhat sudden after how things got for the past five episodes. Overall, "Black.White." is an interesting experiment and definitely has moments of interest, but there's aspects of the series that could have been changed in order to try and promote more open communication and have the participants exploring each other's differences in a deeper manner. The DVD VIDEO: "Black.White." is presented in 1.33:1 full-frame by Fox. The show was filmed using different cameras, but generally looks quite good on this presentation. Understandably, some of the handheld footage is on the blurry side, but most of the footage taken inside the house looked crisp and clear. Some minor shimmering and a few moments of artifacting were spotted, but otherwise, the picture looked crisp and clear. Colors remained natural and bright, with no smearing or other concerns. SOUND: "Black.White." is presented in stereo and dialogue remained crisp and clear. EXTRAS: Episode 1 has commentary from exec producer RJ Cutler, Brian and Bruno; Episode 2 has commentary from Cutler, Renee and Carmen; Episode 3 has commentary from Cutler, Nick and Rose; Episode 4 has commentary from Cutler, producer/make-up artist Keith Vanderlann and Special Effects Make-up Designer Brian Sipe; Episode 5 has commentary from Cutler, Co-Exec producer Keith Hoffman and editors Poppy Das, Greg Finton, Andy Robertson and Yaffa Lerea and finally, Episode 6 has commentary by Cutler and co-exec producer Hoffman. Additionally, we get audition tapes from both families, Ice Cube music video, make-up slide-show, study guides, and video from Rose's poetry slam. Final Thoughts: Overall, "Black.White." is an interesting experiment and definitely has moments of interest, but there's aspects of the series that could have been changed in order to try and promote more open communication and have the participants exploring each other's differences in a deeper manner. The DVD set offers fine audio/video quality and a nice set of extra features. Those interested should definitely try it as a rental. |