The video clip at the heart of this documentary on African-American restaurant worker Booker Wright is so revelatory that director Raymond De Felitta (City Island) can be excused for repeating it a half dozen times. Taken from an NBC News special about life in Mississippi filmed by De Felitta’s father, Frank, in 1965, the footage features Wright re-creating his for-the-white-folks routine before launching into a bitterly ironic exposé on racial relations. Intercutting present-day interviews with the murdered Wright’s family and residents of Greenwood, Mississippi, the director illuminates how the town’s racial and economic dynamics have changed, while simultaneously reflecting on the ethics of nonfiction filmmaking. It’s a powerful testament to how far we both have and haven’t come.
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