White Like Me (2013) User Reviews

Inversion Therapy

[rousu-1 · 8/10 · 14 May 2015]

If you read the book Black Like Me, or saw the movie of the same name dating from the 60s, you got a taste of a white man trying to examine and experience what it was like to be a black man in America. Here is an interesting inversion of examining internally what it is like to be a white person in America. The personal introspective side is well augmented with facts and data.

If we are white, we tend to accept our experiences as normal, and accept our interaction with the world to be the norm for all. This film cracks open the door a bit and lets us look at a 3D "selfie". Self awareness is the beginning of wisdom.

Knocked Me Out Of My White Socks

[j-pudwill · 9/10 · 7 April 2015]

Outstanding, insightful look at being white - as opposed to being black – in modern America.

An exceptionally eye-opening discussion of what it means to be white in a white society, run by whites, for whites. Plus how easy it is for whites to be oblivious to all the obvious advantages and more subconscious perks and less well-known benefits that come from being part of this group.

This film is not a rant or a scold.

Instead, it is an even-handed, almost scientific discussion of how American society behaves and operates.

It is simultaneously fascinating in its little-known details and sobering in its conclusions.

Many kudos to Tim Wise, the filmmaker and educator, for this compelling, terrifically cogent gem.

Dishonest at Best

[zoydwheelermd · 1/10 · 31 August 2015]

I try to approach subjects like this with an open mind. I do want to learn.... This polemic was a disappointment.

Within the first 10 minutes Tim Wise talks about the murder of Adolph Archie by the Police in New Orleans and while a hint of the truth is in the news clippings shown on screen he glosses over the real facts of the case. Archie was a career criminal and had killed a policeman in a shootout. Wise leads the viewer to believe that Archie was beaten to death by the police because he was black.... I am in no way condoning the death of Archie, but I do question the honesty of this ponderous "documentary".

The basic premise of this simple and vapid work is that everything that happens to a person that happens to be black is because they are black. The myriad of other factors are never addressed or hinted at. This dishonest work will not help the discussion or enlighten anyone but a hapless college freshman for whom this drivel was meant for.