The Problem of the Hero (2024) Film Review
The Problem of the Hero, by young director Shaun Dozier, is a thrilling film that you may find some difficulty connecting with at first, but eventually it will find a way through to your heart. It represents a relevant conversation about artistic difference and chemistry that’s been willingly corrupted by two frames of mind that seemed to run on the same path, but they were disconcertingly out of tune. Whatever you may get from it will be positive because it isn’t a cautionary tale but a spark that will make you want to observe a different mindset.
The film is a representation of a clash between author Richard Wright and playwright Paul Green, two men who collided because of a single page in a script that adapted Wright’s best-selling book, Native Son, into a Broadway play. Green held a Pulitzer in his hands, so this empowered him to make some changes to Wright’s work before opening night. It didn’t exactly represent the author’s view of a conclusion. When they sat down to discuss this, it went on for a space of two months between June and July of 1940 (a period obviously changed in the film), during which the artists clashed in their creative views.
The film takes place in a restricted setting, having outburts of dramatic representation as Wright and Green come to a point in their conversations that simply goes nowhere in their difference. They hit a wall in their disagreement, and Dozier decides to help the viewer by having a theater-based enactment of whatever message is addressed. This works as a valid resource, but it doesn’t compare to the actors’ finely-tuned performances that paraphrase their visions. The Problem of the Hero is methodically designed as a stage where opposites battle against each other.
But to what purpose? It isn’t very important whether they reach an agreement or follow up on the integrity of their beliefs, traditions, and political views. The film does enough to conclude with something definite, but I get the feeling that Dozier’s seeking something else. A reflection of something culturally relevant to today’s times of intolerance, racial tension, and political differences. The outcome was supposedly documented somewhere, but the historical value is properly transmitted by Dozier’s perspective of an issue that didn’t necessarily have to be solved but transcended all the same into something that was worth observing.
The Problem of the Hero isn’t a film for all audiences because its subject matter isn’t something that sparks curiosity in today’s social dynamics. But it’s important to see how the film has the capacity to address our reality. Our approach to socio-cultural issues heavily depends on our upbringing and our relationship with today’s reactionary society. Some will grasp the situation and learn about it, and others will probably demand an explanation about why it relates to them. In any case, it’s a film that will make you look its way.
The performances by J. Mardrice Henderson and David zum BrunnenĀ are good enough to make a dent in independent cinema circles where performances aren’t usually this thought-provoking.
