Black Or White (2014)

Even granted that this movie is several years old, it is really a terrible movie vis-s-vis addressing race, and it is certainly painful to watch. Having just had my whole at home family watch a movie that none of us liked much, I was thankful that at least I watched it on my own. This is a largely simple story about who should raise a child when their parents are unavailable. Eloise is the child, a well adjusted mixed race girl being raised by her white mother's parents after their daughter's death. Seemingly that apple cart wasn't upset until her grandmother is killed in an accident and she is left in the care of her clearly alcoholic grandfather, played convincingly by Kevin Costner. That causes her other grandmother, played by Octavia Spencer, to step in and seek custody and that is at the center of the bulk of the movie. There are so many stereotypes at work and being reinforced here that make the movie difficult to both watch and defend on every level, and causes you to question how two people with so much star power got involved. The only truth is that very often there is not a single great answer as to what is best for the child, and both options are flawed. This will make you sympathetic to the family court judge's dilemma, but not much else.