This work is breathtaking. The ability of Anna Deavere Smith to transform herself convincingly into a myriad of people who talk about their experience of the Los Angeles riots has to be seen to be believed. She makes us listen to and care about what people from a wide range of vantage points have to say. I defy anyone to watch this all the way through and not be moved and challenged. It should be required viewing for all high school and college students, as well as anyone who wants to better understand this tumultuous event in American history.
2 Reviews
Brilliantly written, beautifully acted
walkingquaker30 April 2001
I saw this on PBS recently. I had heard something about a one woman show at the Sundance Festival last year or maybe year before. This is one of the finest crafted theatre pieces I have ever seen on screen. In fact, as a playwright of 4 one person shows, I can attest to the craftsmanship, the integrity, the luminosity of Ms. Deavere's script. As a social commentary in the one woman show genre it is without parallel. As a social commentary/docu-drama in any genre it is stunning. Intelligent without being intellectual, graphic without being gratuitous, detailed without being tedious or sensational, she has captured a seminal event in modern American history with grace, guts, and vision. Her acting is genuine, sincere, riveting, and entertaining. She transcends herself, her time and thereby gives the viewer true illumination of what it is a human being can do, what a human being does best. Her comprehension of black social conditions in L.A. is breath taking. And just as remarkable, she and her associates translated a stage play to screen in a way seldom successful. I can recall no stage/screen translation as successful. Bravo all the way down the line.
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