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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Boyz N the Hood

Boyz N the Hood

1 rating: 5.0

A movie directed by John Singleton

John Singleton emerged from USC film school with his passionate script already written, and at age 23 he made the film that spawned a score of ghetto dramas. From the opening shot--a sign reading "Stop"--to the final message of "Increase … see full wiki

Tags: Movies, Dramas

Cast: Valentino Harrison

Director: John Singleton

Release Date: 1991

MPAA Rating: R

1 review about Boyz N the Hood

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Streets is Calling

Jun 9, 2007

by BaronSamedi3
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

Pros: Very gritty and realistic

Cons: KKK could use it to back their stereotypes

The Bottom Line: This one is a shouldn't-be-missed

It doesn’t take a ton of time for director John Singleton to establish the basic outside theme of Boyz n the Hood. At the very beginning of the movie, Singleton gives us a depressing statistic: One in every 21 black males will be murdered at some point in their lives, and in most cases the murderers will be other black males. The very first shot in the movie is a slow zoom-in of a stop sign. Later, the theme is punctuated by a scene in which the father of one of the main characters explains the concept of gentrification to several members of the community.

The outside theme of Boyz n the Hood is life in a black ghetto. Now my own experiences in tough black ghettos are a bit limited. I attended elementary school and high school both at predominantly black schools on the tough east side of Buffalo, New York. I adopted the music, clothing, and most of the slang of my black peers. While my façade was generally accepted, my pale oyster-colored skin marred the experience a little, and my reverse Oreo exterior would evaporate when I set foot across the neighborhood borders to my south side, working class Irish neighborhood. Therefore, I can’t tell you how authentic the portrayal of black life in Boyz n the Hood is. But I can tell you that Boyz n the Hood certainly feels authentic. Its portrayal of black life is gritty, hard, and painfully believable. Like an elegant hip hop song, Boyz n the Hood keeps your attention by painting picture so fascinating, you’ll swear you’ve actually been there. Like too many hip hop songs these days, the poetry is explicit, but it is also utterly compelling.

Boyz n the Hood is not a gangster movie. That’s a common misconception. It’s not even a gang-banger movie. It is very anti-gang-banger. The movie is about a young man named Tre Styles who is sent to live with his father after his latest dust-up at school. Tre’s life-defining experiences come under the care of his stern but straight-shooting, hard-working, and stern father. As Mr. Styles tries to keep Tre on real in the urban jungle of south central Los Angeles, Tre is also being pulled in the direction of his two friends, Ricky and Doughboy. Ricky is a good person who dreams of being a football star but who also is a teenage father. Doughboy is an angry and self-destructive criminal whose dreams are limited to the ones that come while he’s asleep. He sells drugs and refers to women with certain derogatory names.

There are heartfelt themes of friendship and loyalty in Boyz n the Hood. Though certain mannerisms are unique – and stereotypical – to black people, the loyalty and love the characters feel for each other is very universal. Ricky, Doughboy, and Tre are there for each other even though their friendship is an unlikely meeting of aspiration (Tre) with entrapment (Ricky) and laziness (Doughboy). They all have wisdom about the world that differs, from Tre believing his father’s words about the Army not being for the black man to the atheism of Doughboy (who at one point says if there’s a god, it must be a man because no woman would ever screw things up like this).

The movie carries with it a certain sense of disillusionment. Doughboy is the prime example of this disillusionment, but he is far from the only example. Tre’s father seems to firmly believe the white man is out to get him as he talks about how the black community is filled with liquor stores and gun shops. The scene is which Tre is first introduced begins with a montage of kids’ drawings of various things that happen in their neighborhoods: Police helicopters are even drawn. It’s horrifying but you can’t look away. There is a powerful message of anti-gangs or anti-violence, depending on your interpretation. Bloods and Crips are both portrayed, as is the violence that happens when one of these sides invariably feels disrespected by the other. The violence is sudden and senseless and perpetual, and when one side extracts vengeance on the other for what would be seen as nothing in a white community, it points an exclamation point at the end.

Boyz n the Hood seems to be a montage at first, just a bunch of random scenes in Tre’s life put together. It’s not until the movie rushes toward its powerful climax when the events depicted begin to connect with one another and make sense. I’m not complaining about this because I found it effective and it makes the climax and the ending that much less expected.

Boyz n the Hood is surely one of the best movies of the 1990’s. It gives a chilling yet fascinating portrayal of black life in which things are both right and wrong. It both reinforces and breaks stereotypes. It’s a film about the everyday lives of one specific race that contains messages which are universal: Violence is bad, disrespect is a dumb thing to kill over, the community needs to get together and sort out its differences if black people are ever going to fully integrate and be accepted. Love and loyalty can and should be given to people even if you don’t fully agree with their philosophies. These messages are given very little flash but a style which will be tattooed on your brain for years to come. Boyz n the Hood is an important, unforgettable film which may leave you with the feeling that not enough is being done.

Recommended:
Yes

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