About forty years ago, a Black theatre group hired me to direct for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, Ntozake Shange’s feminist “choreopoem.” They needed a director and I was looking for a show. I admired Shange’s work and was anxious to dive in. I don’t think any of us thought much about the fact that I am a White man.
The night before opening, a television reporter asked me about being a White man directing a play about Black women. My ingenuous response was that I was comfortable directing Chekhov even though I’m not Russian. I added that I had seven Black women actors in the cast who would let me know if I made a misstep.
Things have changed since 1984. I would not be offered that job today and, in the unlikely event that it was offered, I would turn it down.
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This came to mind after I screened a new film, The Problem of the Hero – a compelling historical drama about the clash between men of principle in 1941. The men are novelist Richard Wright and playwright Paul Green, liberal Southerners – one Black, one White.
The two writers have been collaborating on a stage adaptation of Wright’s landmark novel, Native Son, to be produced on Broadway, directed by Orson Welles. (Orson Welles directing Native Son might also be a source of contention today.) The film explores the conflict between Wright and Green about the final page of the stage adaptation. Green wants the final scene to offer a hope of redemption for Wright’s protagonist, Bigger Thomas; Wright does not. Green feels the need to cater to what will be a mostly White audience on Broadway; Wright has no intention of catering to anybody.
The film highlights the efforts of two men, each an advocate for civil rights, who view that advocacy from very different perspectives. At one point, Richard Wright (J. Mardrice Henderson) reminds Paul Green (David zum Brunnen) of the “difference between knowing and empathizing.” He asserts that Green has the luxury of choice – a luxury not available to Bigger Thomas and the downtrodden he represents. Green’s responses often echo the confusion that comes to those who try to do what is right, but don’t know how it might be received.
Although the movie is set in 1941, its pertinence rings strongly today in ongoing discussions of agency and who has the right to speak for, and represent, whom. It’s a discussion that applies to much more than writers; it’s a discussion now that is essentially changing the definition of what it means to be an actor.
Director Shaun Dozier masterfully presents The Problem of the Hero with cinematic finesse from a screenplay by James A. Hodge and Ian Finley, from Finley’s one-act play, “Native.” It’s a beautiful film to look at with cinematography by Steve Milligan and editing by Dozier. Most of the action takes place in and around New York’s St. James Theatre during final rehearsals for Green and Wright’s stage version of Native Son. That setting provides the background for creative presentation of the story as Green and Wright’s discussions take place backstage, in the auditorium, in dressing rooms, onstage, in rehearsals, during a light check. On a few occasions, the relative quiet of the film is broken by the bluster of Orson Welles (Charlie Cannon) who, true to form, sucks the air out of the room each time he enters the frame.
The Problem of the Hero features grown-up debates between formidable sparring partners about issues simmering for centuries, that have come to a more urgent forefront again within our own past decade. Eight decades after the events chronicled in this film, the conversations are as timely as they’ve ever been.
Wright and Green are articulate spokesmen for points of view that are heading generally in the same direction, but inevitably come to an impasse. Still, their discussion remains courteous, patient, and forthright. On those occasions when anger flares, it’s best to pay close attention. Canada Lee (Brandon Haynes), the actor playing Bigger Thomas in the play, comments to Green that he and Wright “fight like brothers.” Paul Green remarks that “not every friendship can survive the artistic process.”
This is intimate filmmaking. Green and Wright each have exceptional scenes with others. Green reveals his frustrations to Canada Lee in an unhurried cigarette break. Wright recounts a troubling childhood memory to actor Nell Harrison (Josephine Hall) during a dressing room visit. There is a pause when his story is over. Nell’s perfect response is a simple sigh, “oh.”
Mostly, however, the screen belongs to Green and Wright, in the beautifully paired casting of David zum Brunnen and J. Mardrice Henderson. The conviction and level of their discourse is rare in films these days. Green is a patriot in the old-fashioned sense, with a firm belief that the country is headed in the right direction, despite its setbacks. You can see his pain when he realizes his friend and collaborator is an atheist, a communist. Wright has no delusions about the forces of racism in his native land – yearning to find freedom in Paris, even at a time when Nazis are occupying France. When Green scoffs at racist utterances, calling such things “nonsense,” Wright replies, “There’s danger in nonsense, Mr. Green. Enough people speak the same nonsense at the same time and it might as well be the truth.” Thinking of our current national situation, I found myself sighing oh.
The Problem of the Hero carries a subtle metaphor about a single candle being held in vigil outside a prison where an execution is taking place. A futile gesture, perhaps, but it is gradually joined by other candles in the darkness.
The Problem of the Hero is currently playing on the film festival circuit with distribution news forthcoming. The early reviews I have seen have been unanimously positive. I would encourage you to remember this title and seek out this film at your first opportunity. Here’s the trailer:
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On a personal note, I had the opportunity to direct David zum Brunnen as Mercutio in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet many years ago. I still think of that cast as my “dream cast.” I have kept up with David and his wife, Serena Ebhardt, and their EbzB Productions (www.ebzb.org) operating out of North Carolina and presenting live theatre nationally – and now this film. I had not seen David perform, however, since that Shakespeare production in the ‘90s. It was a thrill to watch him act, again, with an outstanding performance in such an important and singular work.
Professional Southerner 