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For some reason, Canada is almost always portrayed as some kind of great Northern Utopia. Everyone speaks French and English. Foreigners are free to immigrate. It has more guns but significantly less violence than its neighbor to the South. It’s very liberal, and everyone gets along. In real life, only some of that is true.
For some reason, Canada is almost always portrayed as some kind of great Northern Utopia. Everyone speaks French and English. Foreigners are free to immigrate. It has more guns but significantly less violence than its neighbor to the South. It’s very liberal, and everyone gets along. In real life, only some of that is true.
Just like its neighbor to the South, Canada, too, has an ugly history and present of racism and division. Blacks, whites, and others for that matter, do not walk down the street holding hands singing . This doesn’t mean that bigotry is in your face; sometimes it festers under the surface arising in the inability to a person of color to get a job, or gain entry to a dance club. Other times racism is really ugly, like when a white teenager beats a black teen half to death with a tire iron, strips him naked, and leaves him tied up in an old army fort. At least that’s the back story for Poor Boy’s Game, directed by Clement Virgo (also the co-writer along with Chaz Thorne).
Set in modern Nova Scotia, a Canadian Province that doesn’t get a lot of notice, the story picks up at the parole hearing of Donnie Rose, serving time for brutally beating Charlie Carvery (K.C. Collins), a young black man, who was left permanently and severely brain damaged. After ten years of confinement, Donnie is a free man, released back into the same world that fostered his rage and bigotry. The problem is, he’s changed. He’s no longer interested in just partying, and cheating, and the other seedy activities in which his brother Keith (Greg Bryk) is involved.
In spite of his change, members of the black community, who opposed his application for parole, are less than forgiving. Not the least of which is George Carvery (Danny Glover), Charlie’s father. In spite of his feelings toward Donnie, George ends up coaching him for a challenge that could make Donnie or break him in the eyes of the entire community: a boxing match against Ossie Paris (Flex Alexander), a local boy who went on to be a boxing superstar, but with whom Donnie has a past.
Sutherland delivers a stellar performance, subtle and nuanced, and perfect for his part. Glover, always a joy to watch, accurately conveys the anguish of a father and the conflicting emotions of a man choosing to train the boy who nearly killed his son. His line delivery is captivating, at times almost a whisper. Glover is truly a great talent. Alexander also does an adequate job as the bombastic, media-whore Paris (and how old is Alexander anyway? He doesn’t seem to age at all.). Perhaps the surprise of the movie is Tonya Lee Simmons, who plays Ruth Carvery, George’s wife. Though only in a few scenes, she steals the spotlight with raw emotion and, at times, crazy rage.
The DVD also offers extras, including a music video by Black Union featuring Maestro, that offers insight into the history of race relations in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the song Africville. Overall, Poor Boy’s Game is a worthy effort, and worth a watch.
