Reviews

For years I have been talking about undertainment, which is the low level of engagement with which most diverse peoples consume their entertainment. I witnessed it for the first time watching an in-flight film with a director and watching him get lit up because the story was so relevant to him. I was jealous. I had never had that experience with a film - until I saw Hero. I had no idea what to expect. My mother bought my husband and I tickets for my birthday. All three of us went together. When we walked out of there we were walking on air. First of all the story was about a Trinidadian man. To see a man from the land of our birth portrayed as a hero was a completely new experience for me who came to Canada at the age of 5. But by the time the film was finished both my mother and I were reverberating. At the age of 12, I had flown to Tanzania to visit my father for three weeks. He had been working in Dar es Salaam for three years as the Queens Counsel. He had been brought in to try the people accused of treason against Nyerere's government. That much I knew. What I didn't know was the larger context. I didn't know that he had flown across the globe to fulfill the dream of the United States of Africa. How frickin' awesome is that? My father was prepared to put his life on the line to fight for African independence. This film gave me a sense of my history, my heritage and it gave me a father I never knew I had. Then I understood his work defending the coup plotters in Trinidad, an infamous trial that he won. He had the heart of a rebel and he was willing to put his money where his mouth is. He must have been an Amazon Warrior as well. When I left the theatre I went to find my mom and she was gushing all over Frances Ann, and I had to join in. As a filmmaker myself, i said words to her that night that I don't think I have said before or since. Brilliant. This film is Brilliant. My personal connection to it notwithstanding. It is the culmination of a career as a television exec, filmmaker, distributor, and theatre director lthat is poetic, powerful gripping and such a gift. I will be forever grateful. Thanks Frances-Anne Solomon