Get Out

Director: Jordan Peele

Producer: Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr.

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Lakeith Stanfield, and Catherine Keener.

Duration: 104 minutes

The film ‘Get out’ is unlike any other. It truly is a unique perspective to themes like racism and slavery in modern-day society.

The film starts with a black man- Chris Washington walking down an empty, deserted street while he is laughing with somebody on the phone about how he always gets lost. He sees a car follow him and instinct, societal conditioning and societal behaviour towards people of colour play such a vital role in his fear during this time.

In the next scene, we see his white girlfriend- Rose convince him to meet her parents.

Chris is falling in love with her and is accepting of the fact that somehow, he will have to meet her parents one day. While Rose and Chris arrive at her parent’s house, Chris feels weird energy, almost as though there was a physical force making him uncomfortable.

Her parents had kept a groundskeeper and a housekeeper- who were both black. This appears to Chris as a situation of slavery, but he lets it go to impress her parents.

Rose also has a brother who appears to be wildly strange, almost as if he was into the concept of method acting for the role of The Joker.

Chris is observant of all the racial tension.

While Chris is in a vulnerable situation, Rose’s mom Missy awakens Chris’ dark memories and psychologically affects him deeply through a hypnotherapy session. There is also a point in the film where he is physically able to reach the memory- this scene just goes on to show us how mind games and guilt can make one feel deserving of the pain they experience- mentally, emotionally or physically.

There are many instances where Chris observes slavery in different forms and how the place he is in is dominated by white people and there is a clear distinction between the superiority, authority of the former and the inferiority of the latter.

The audience is aware that something is wrong from the very beginning but there is no clear clarity or insight as to what is going on. They portray Chris as though he was overreacting to various racial situations throughout the movie.

He feels like a fish out of water, almost as if the rest of the white characters were there to own him.

I strongly felt like uniquely portraying racism captures the viewers’ attention. The black community has undergone years of oppression and this movie also shows the reality of how it still happens. Sure, there are movements and protests but how long till all colours find a common ground and achieve equality?

It is concerning, how something an individual cannot help or has no control over determines their place in society and the way they are looked at.

With advanced technological visual graphics and art, Peele captures the themes of the film. The exceptional cinematography highlights different moods in different film filters making the setting of the scene very clear.

The barren, secluded place that most of the film is set in also adds an element of horror, discomfort and distress.

The film constantly keeps you at the edge of your seats and makes you wait for more. It remarkably succeeds at being a psychological horror, thriller and action all in one which is what I love most about this movie.

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