a review of

At times this was a pretty savage social satire in ways I wasn't necessarily expecting. Specifically with regard to the recurring suggestion that Godfrey Cambridge's main character might have been merely passing as white up until now, an idea that is reinforced by the opening sequence showing Cambridge performing a vicious caricature of oblivious white privilege in what I assume to be intentionally unconvincing whiteface. It's a sad commentary on our progress as a society that so much of the surrounding cultural context for this movie has barely changed in the past 50+ years, but I'm glad that the new Criterion release will allow modern audiences to see it.