Best movie of this year hands down!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a review of "Rosewood" and "Higher Learning", two films by John Singleton. The weaker of the two, "Rosewood" takes place during the 1923 race riots of Rosewood, Florida. Structured as a western, the film watches as an archetypal "Man With No Name" (Ving Rhames, literally playing a character called Mann) enters Rosewood, only to find the town's predominantly African American population living on edge with a white minority who rule with guns, badges and a bucket full of resentment.A single incident sets the town alight: a young woman blames a black stranger for the vicious beating she received from her white husband. "He was so big!" she screams. "He was so black!" The news spreads. Local white folk begin assembling. Pretty soon a carnival atmosphere develops, whites arming themselves, getting liquored up and commencing the slaughtering of blacks. Charred corpses hang from trees, houses burn and bullets fly.Though it pretends to be "serious" and "historical", "Rosewood" is mostly a silly cartoon. Singleton creates an African American Eden, one which would have flourished had it not been for the white man. Whites are themselves portrayed as lecherous, stupid and one dimensional. One character, played by Jon Voight, is our token "nuanced white". He's a rich landowner, sleazy, but eventually learns to "do the right thing". Elsewhere Singleton consciously reverses common African American stereotypes: all the white families are oversexed, violent, carnal or single parents. The black families, in contrast, are torn straight out of Norman Rockwell paintings, celebrating birthdays, always surrounded by a warm glow or sitting at big, family meals. Later, Mann becomes a Biblical figure, a Moses who leads surviving black folk on an exodus out of Rosewood and across a river.Like most films "about racism", "Rosewood" has nothing to do with racism. The saviours of our victims are two landowners, the ruling class is invisible and it is specifically working class whites who are demonized. Racism, in other words, is caused by the stupid, poor, irrational lower class. But racism always has economic roots. In the US, racial policy became a means of combating worker unity by fostering conflicts and divisions between groups along racial, national, sexual or religious lines. The revitalisation of the KKK in the 1920s was itself a direct response to economic factors. Such things go back as far as the 18th century (quasi-military alliances between large corporations and governments repressed efforts to form labour unions and conduct strikes), when the ruling class pitted blacks, Indians and whites against one another to stave off insurrection. Indians, for example, were often hired as "slave catchers", whilst "strikebreakers" - workers used to replace white strikers – always came from outside the area and/or "lower" ethnic groups. This, of course, exacerbated racial tensions and disrupted communities. Where Rosewood is set, almost two generations after the abolition of slavery and the end of the American Civil War, many French Canadians, East Europeans and Africans were first introduced as strike breakers. The deliberate creation of racial and ethnic conflict was not a matter of individual employer prejudice but of capitalist class strategy. Ulimately, "Rosewood's" message is typical of all of Singleton's films: evil whites preyed on black, set them back, but now's the time for African Americans to help themselves, pull themselves up by the bootstraps, be good and earn a buck. Blacks, in other words, must now be good whites. Play the game that causes the problem and shunt the problem onto someone else.Singleton's "Higher Learning" tells the same story, but is set in a fictional Columbus University. It contains a number of intertwined subplots and characters, the most interesting of which involves Malik Williams (Omar Epps), a black athlete who resents being forced to represent his school on the track field. The film's philosophy is articulated by Laurence Fishburne, who plays a West Indian Professor. African Americans, Fisburne essentially says, should suck it up, work hard, stop blaming people and put up with the problem. Other subplots involve shy and naive girls turning lesbian after being raped by men and a lonely confused man (Michael Rapaport, deliberately parroting DeNiro's Travis Bickle) joining a neo Nazi group. The film ends in a big, climactic orgy of blood, as most of these films do. As with Singleton's best film, "Boyz n the Hood", actor Ice Cube (and rapper Busta Rhymes) stands out. He out classes everyone. The rest of the cast overact.While the film is right to show how racism as a system has been institutionalised within the very fabric of American social, economical, educational, and governmental institutions, and has always sought to dehumanise, devalue, and even destroy minorities and women, its ending, in which the word "unlearn" is boldly written on-screen, is completely unearned. The idea is that a "higher education" beyond "education" is the solution, that one should "unlearn" what they've been programmed to accept, but little in the film supports this theme and the statement largely comes out of left-field.7/10 - Worth one viewing.

To be fair, "Higher Learning" came out in the midst of one of the most liberal decades in the history of this country: the 1990's. Sadly, this does not excuse the blatant irresponsibility on display by writer/director John Singleton in his portrayal of both black and white college students. They remind me of characters from a film like "Not Another Teen Movie." Someone like me can watch this with a certain kind of eye and find the entertainment value in it, but to a young person or an impressionable teenager, "Higher Learning" is borderline dangerous propaganda and nothing more.The viewer is offered an entirely one-sided depiction of the racism that black people endure on a college campus, all the way up to the end. Not one campus security guard is black, they are all white and they are all racist. They even obstruct our hero in the end instead of going after the killer. It is absurd and unrealistic.The Neo-Nazi's are pathetic, mouth-breathing morons and the Black Power guys are intelligent, transcendent disciples of Huey Newton who, somehow, are still oppressed in 1995.I wouldn't say this is the WORST movie I've ever seen, but it sure is close. Only to be viewed by those with an IQ of 130 or higher and even then, just for pure comedic value.The acting is pretty good by all those involved, but the script stinks, the story is over the top ridiculous and the overall message here is not good. Anyone else notice that music in the 90's was better than now, but movies have definitely gotten better!?2 out of 10, kids.

I had never heard of Higher Learning until I saw it on BET during a night of insomnia. So I had no idea what to expect when I started watching it.The film follows the story of three incoming freshman at the fictional Columbus University, both plagued by tragedies. Kristen (Kristy Swanson) is nearly raped, loses her useless friends, and questions her sexuality, or so it is implied. Malik (Omar Epps) faces racial tension, tuition woes, and the realization he isn't sure what he wants in life. Remy (Michael Rappaport) deals with loneliness, and his eventual decline into white supremacism. So it's an upbeat film.Director John Singleton had a unique opportunity to show the reality of racial tensions and the struggles of college life. In some ways, he succeeds. In other ways, the film is extremely dishonest. You won't find a single redeemable white male character. Based on the movie, you would have to conclude most white males are either skinheads, frat rapists, or moronic racist campus police. The only truly positive white female character happens to be a lesbian (Jennifer Connelly), whose place in the film is mystifying for me until I read a lot of her relationship with Kristen is cut out (Could it be sexuality is more scary than race? I don't know why they cut it out, just a possibility). I don't count Kristen as a positive character because she is portrayed as being so weak. The film also dumbs itself down at times, as in the scene where Malik rants about Christopher Columbus for example (Malik doesn't know anything about Frederick Douglass, but he's suddenly an expert on colonial history?). And Remy's descent into white supremacy is laughable (He's becoming racist because his black roommates wouldn't turn down their stereo?). The white supremacists are so poorly acted (aside from Cole Hauser) and so much caricatures, it's hard to see why they should be feared (Real skinheads are much more frightening).And yet, there are some superb scenes. The conclusion of Remy's story was powerful. It would have been interesting to hear Malik's thoughts on Remy after that moment. Does he pity Remy? Does he forgive him? Maybe that's just me though, as I've experienced the anger that comes with having a friend murdered.The moments where we see Professor Phipps (Laurence Fishburne) struggling to reach Malik are also gripping. And any scene with Michael Rappaport is powerful. Despite the ridiculous lack of justification for his transformation, he makes it work well.In the end, the performances are what redeems the movie, starting with Rappaport. Fishburne is excellent, and every scene he is in keeps your eyes glued to the screen, despite an accent that disappears at times. Ice Cube is great as a perpetual senior, who is also the smartest character in the movie. It makes you wonder why he isn't getting more serious roles. Regina King, Cole Hauser, Adam Goldberg, Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks round out the honorable mentions. Although part of me felt Goldberg's role was a stereotype. Kristy Swanson does a respectable job, but her storyline is a mess. At the beginning she is shown being nervous around Malik because he's black. Yet she has no issue with Regina King's character? And she's the one the filmmakers chose to organize a unity rally? I suppose it's the scene were King has Ice Cube and his friends rough up the frat boy that tried to rape her that's supposed to represent her transformation, but I think that should have been explored more. They never really showed her coming to terms with the attempted rape. And the lesbian angle remains unresolved. Her story just didn't make much sense.In the end, this film is worth seeing, if only for the excellent cast. It doesn't treat politics, race, or sex with any real honesty. Films like Do the Right Thing and Remember the Titans are much better at presenting racial issues. If you are homosexual, you are likely to feel slighted. And most races could find something to be offended by. If you went to college, this won't at all resemble your experience. But there are single moments of truth.

For some reason I thought this was going to be a goofy college movie but it isn't at all. It truly is an ensemble cast with no clear "main character", because the stories involved all of them.Omar Epps is Malik, at college on a partial scholarship as a track athlete. He has a giant chip on his shoulder and has trouble adjusting.Kristy Swanson is the freshman away from home, Kristen Connor, and needing to learn much to cope with this new college life.Michael Rapaport is Remy from Idaho, lonely and easily influenced, and gets pulled into a group of white supremacist skinheads.Jennifer Connelly is Taryn, borderline lesbian and one that identifies with "causes."My favorite is Laurence Fishburne as Political Science Professor Maurice Phipps, very "Morpheus-like" before he became Morpheus in "The Matrix". It was funny hearing him talk to students about "the real world", a term we hear so often in "The Matrix." But in a good way.Among the others in the cast were Ice Cube, Tyra Banks, Cole Hauser, Regina King, and Busta Rhymes.This is not a delicate movie. It has date rape, ethnic struggles, murder, and suicide. But it is a movie that holds your attention.MAJOR SPOILER: This is the movie where Rapaport as Remy wants to be accepted by his skinhead friends and, egged on, he gets a rifle and decides to snipe from a roof top and kill a black person. He ends up killing two students, one of them the girlfriend (Tyra Banks) of Malik. Later, cornered, Remy puts a pistol in his mouth and kills himself.