I Finally Got To Watch Nickel Boys. As A Black Man, Here's Why I Think Everybody Should Watch It

Here's the thing about being Black. When it comes to entertainment, we usually only have two real categories: Comedies about the Black experience, or, hard-to-sit-through dramas about mistreatment and unfair practices.

A lot of the films in the latter category come in the form of social justice movies, but many also come in the form of slave dramas. Sure, we occasionally get what I like to call “wish fulfillment” films where Black people fight back and don't end up dead, like Django Unchained, which I always find satisfying, or the recent, Sinners, which is now one of my favorite movies.

But, we usually don't get stories with what I'll call cathartic endings on a regular basis. Instead, we mostly get the more realistic outcome, and this is what we get with Nickel Boys, which I just watched recently. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead, it is certainly in the “hard-to-sit-through” category, but I still think everybody should watch it anyway. Here's why.

This Is The Only Movie I've Ever Watched Where The Viewer Is Forced Into The POV Of A Black Person

I know a lot of non-Black people don't want to hear this, but being Black isn't easy. There are a number of contributing factors that make life challenging (not all of them self-inflicted, by the way), and oftentimes, filmmakers have a difficult time showing the actual nuance behind why it's so difficult sometimes.

Look, I'm fortunate. Where I live, I'd say that 9 times out of 10, I don't encounter any problems. In fact, I even tend to forget my skin color on most occasions, and can just live my life. However, in that 1 time out of 10, it becomes glaringly obvious that I’m Black, and I become super uncomfortable. Because sometimes, I'll just get that look. For example, I’ve watched people cross the street when they see me coming.

Other times, I’ll get a “What-are-you-doing-here?” expression on people’s faces. Now, I don't want you to think that this is an experience that I’ve mostly had with white people. In fact, from my experience (as I said earlier, I've been lucky), it's usually not white people, but rather, other races who have given me this look.

That said, I bring all of this up since it's hard to understand unless you've actually experienced it for yourself. And Nickel Boys is the first and only film that I can think of that puts the viewer in the POV of a Black person. In this way, whether the viewer wants to or not, they have to experience all of the disdainful looks that I’ve had to witness firsthand in that one time out of ten (and I’m sure other Black people have experienced it on way more occasions than I have).

It’s really audacious filmmaking, and, like my colleague, Alexandra Ramos said in her article where she picked her favorite movie of last year, it’s a “criminally underrated” film and quite possibly my favorite movie of the ones that were nominated last year.

The Filmmaking Technique Is Probably Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen, And It Comes From A Visionary Black Filmmaker

Look, I’ll shout out Black filmmakers all day, every day. Nia DaCosta, Steve McQueen, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Antoine Fuqua, etc, etc, etc. If you’re Black and you make good movies, then I will shout about you from the rooftops.

Sure, some Black filmmakers, like Jordan Peele (whose Get Out still haunts me), Spike Lee, and Ryan Coogler are so mainstream nowadays that they don’t need any more endorsements. But, others could still use that little extra spotlight, and RaMell Ross is one of those.

Nickel Boys is his first feature length scripted film (his previous two films, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, and the short, Easter Snap, are both documentaries). While he has gotten plenty of critical recognition for it, the movie mostly stands as a highly lauded, under-seen masterpiece.

In fact, even though I wanted to see the film last year in theaters, it wasn’t really playing anywhere around me. It actually wasn’t until it landed on Amazon Prime that I was able to check it out after hearing so many good things, and I can confirm that it’s just as good as people say it is.

Plus, the first-person perspective thing really does make all the difference. It isn’t just a gimmick or a conceit that wears out its welcome only a few minutes in. Instead, Ross really committed to the concept of seeing the story from two Black boys’ perspectives. It's bold filmmaking from a promising Black director, and I think everybody should see this spectacular movie. It’s truly that good.

The Movie Handles A Specific Event In History That You Likely Aren't Familiar With

There are plenty of movies that handle the tumultuous time period of the ‘60s from a Black lens. There’s the fairly recent Rustin, which is a phenomenal Civil Rights movie, Judas and the Black Messiah, which is about the betrayal of Fred Hampton, Malcolm X starring Denzel Washington, and several movies about Dr. King.

However, most historical movies about the ‘60s tell the stories of Black figures you read about in history textbooks. Not many of them are just about regular people going through the struggle, but Nickel Boys is.

Inspired by a real school in Florida called the Dozier School for Boys, it follows two young men named Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson) who are too young to be put in adult prison, so they’re instead placed in Nickel Academy, a segregated reform school where Black youths are regularly beaten, abused, and possibly raped.

Elwood had his whole future ahead of him, but because he got into the wrong car, he was accused of being an accessory to a crime, and was wrongly sent away to Nickel. Throughout the story, he bonds with Turner, but they both see the injustice of their situation, and ultimately…well, as I said, I would like you to watch this movie, so I won’t spoil the ending.

But, it’s just fascinating to learn about this apparent reform school of horrors, as I’d never heard of it before, and I’m sure others haven’t heard of it either, unless they've read the novel that it’s based upon. Speaking of which…

The Film Will Hopefully Get People Interested In Other Colson Whitehead Stories

I love reading. In fact, I read a hell of a lot more books than I watch movies, which is kind of crazy because I watch a lot of movies.

Even so, whenever I can turn CinemaBlend into LiteraryBlend, I jump at the occasion. Such was the case when I wrote about movies that are arguably better than the books, or when I ranked every book in the Dark Tower series. If there’s a good book that’s out there, I want to read it, and now, after watching Nickel Boys, I definitely want to read the book that inspired it.

I know Colson Whitehead is a fantastic writer. I read his other Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Underground Railroad, which both blew me away and horrified me, and I’ve been itching to read Harlem Shuffle, which has been in my “Want to Read” queue in Goodreads ever since it debuted back in 2021.

However, I think I have to bump that even further back on the queue because I now want to read The Nickel Boys ASAP after watching this startling film, and I think other people will want to read it, too, once they watch the movie.

Which is yet another reason why I think everybody should see this film. I want people to become fans of Colson Whitehead just like I am. Because if you think I’ll shout out Black filmmakers, just think how loudly I’ll shout out Black novelists! Especially since I am one.

Have you seen Nickel Boys yet? If so, I’d love to hear what you thought about the film.