I am a workaholic...but I finally saw the film “Soul Food”. A sister I adore invited me, and I am glad I saw it. I enjoyed it. I had heard such rave reviews that I expected perfection. As I viewed it, I quickly recalled that nothing is ever perfect.

Many readers will find imperfection in this review. Those who dare to be unconditionally honest are rarely popular. Especially when they dare to critique an immensely popular film. But, popularity contests have no place in my life, so read on...

It was wonderful to see real African persons on film devoid of Hollywood’s typically racist propagandistic pathologies. The best thing about “Soul Food” is that there are no gangsters, murderers, or crack addicts in its script. It is heavenly to view responsible, monogamous, beautiful, Black men loving BLACK women. The entire cast is beautiful. The sets are cozy and realistic. This film is visually flawless.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Black man chose to love a darker sibling, rather than the usual colorist ideal.  A similar switch is great when a light skinned playboy is depicted as the villain. It was refreshing to see a realistic rainbow of skin tones, unspoiled by a single eurocentric slur. This film literally exudes BLACK love.

Shockingly, the villainess is not the darkest skinned female. (Clearly, Eddie Murphy had NOTHING to do with this project.) The script expertly balances personal flaws without demonizing or sainting any characters. Every personality is realistically human. This realism lends the film a universal familiarity. It is that familiarity which makes its sexism so blatant and so painful.

Why must educated women always be depicted as frigid and emasculating? Even a major sex symbol was reduced to the obligatory desexualized shrew in this film. Why must female images be so sexually restricted and stereotypical?

Why is the only truly happy sister “coincidentally” the same one who has no education or career except being a fertile housewife? Millions of sisters are simultaneously successful and sexy, executives and mothers, driven and domesticated, cunning and coupled, warm and wise.

It is indeed wise for any spouse to question major withdrawals from joint bank accounts, and major career changes that will affect shared incomes. It is natural for any sibling to resent being taken for granted as the designated family banker. It is rare that any woman would abuse any man as beautiful as Michael Beach.

Why is the narrator’s baby sister mute? She speaks one line during the entire film;  a bratty, if harmless, lie about an eccentric elder. The only way we know that she is not retarded is because she is such an attentive chef in training.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see some men cooking for the women sometime? Many of the world’s greatest chefs are men. Many of the men in my own family cook much better than the women. “Soul Food” does show one brother helping prepare a meal for a brief moment. He seems especially relieved when he is freed by a belated female reinforcement, as he flees to football on TV.

As a lesbian, I am weary with the generic, flaming, Black, gay male caricatures that most Black films factor into their comic formulas. Homosexuals are as diverse as all other humans. May we PLEASE see some other types of homosexuals on screen!? The beauty shop queen in "Soul Food" was brief but noticed. An equally noticeable, but less cartoonish, gay relative or co-worker would have been nice. Maybe a lesbian lawyer at the firm or a gay male in the band...

I long to see more Black gay characters like the lesbians in “The Women of Brewster Place” or the gay brothers in “Get on the Bus”. These are the fellow homosexuals that I know and love. These are the ones I want to see in films.

Overall, “Soul Food” is a positive afrocentric classic. But its sexism is too great a flaw to be ignored. Still, I highly recommend it. Just view it with your third eye...and take along some antacid for the heartburn.
 

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