Nothing But A Man – Michael Roemer Journal Entry 15 Xiongyue Yu

Nothing But A Man – Michael Roemer

 

This 1964 film tells the life story of an ordinary and imperfect black male of that era. The main character, Duff Anderson, works in a difficult environment, drinks daily and meets women with whom he has a mutual affection. He experiences a lot of difficulties in life and relationships, more from his class and race, but he still holds on to his sense of self-respect and is a humane character. Although he ends up unemployed and still lives in a backward town, no one can say his life is a failure.

 

This seemingly ordinary plot, seemingly ordinary and typical characters, in the primitive culture of the United States at that time, where racial segregation reached a stifling degree, is rare to be expressed in the film. It was through this film that many people of that era first saw the on-screen recording of black love stories, showing the diversity of black professions and highlighting the multidimensional rather than stereotypical nature of black characters in America.

 

Many consider this film to be a true masterpiece, and although it is not very widespread, it gives those who have watched it a different sense of history and culture. Shot on location in the northern and southern United States, the period in the film has been romanticized to this day, but the reality is stark and brutal, so few films capture the real people of the period and the real lives and hardships they experienced as authentically as this film does. This makes it not only a film, but also a work of art with cultural, historical or aesthetic significance.