A Caribbean perspective on "Moonlight" by Barry Jenkins
In February 2020, “Moonlight” joined the Netflix catalog. Over the last three years, I have regularly youtubed scenes from the movie. And each time, I mean each time, I was immersed in the emotion of the moment. When I pressed play, I was convinced that I would have fast-forwarded to watch only the highlights in my memories. I was wrong. I let myself be swept away again by the languor of the atmosphere, by the stunning silence of the unsaid, by the beauty of the cinematography. In my previous review (available on myinsaeng.com), I had touched on the subject that is really close to my heart in “Moonlight” : the rooting of Caribbean culture throughout the world.
Caribbean music is universal
In the last sequence of the film, Chiron and Kevin give each other updates on their lives. Kevin says he now leads the simple life that suits him, a life like the one Bob Marley evokes through his songs. This musical reference in the United States in the 2010's needs no contextualization or explanation for anyone born before the early 2000s. Bob Marley was a Jamaican artist, his music remains the ambassador of his island. This impact in international mainstream pop culture is proof of the creative force that emanates from the Caribbean. Our music has the capacity to help human beings create a link between the private and public spheres, which is one of the social functions of pop music as defined by sociologist Simon Frith.
An unexpected open-minded vision of the world
Juan, the character played by Mahershala Ali, is Afrocuban and defies negative stereotypes of the Caribbean man as a patriarch and provider. Aside from the fact that he’s an influential drug dealer, the film focuses on showing the complexity of his personality. His charismatic intransigence towards his clients doesn’t prevent him from showing gentleness and patience towards his girlfriend Teresa and especially towards Chiron. For Chiron, he becomes a surrogate father. He reassures him and serves as a reference point in his quest for identity. Although Caribbean people are often presented as homophobic with a backward vision of contemporary society, it’s important to nuance this stereotype and also show how open-minded they can be just like Juan.
A vision of a colored world
In the scene where Juan teaches Chiron to swim, he wants to make him aware that Black people are present everywhere in the world. However, it is easy to live ignoring a part of the population. I went to Miami last year and I actually only met Black people because it just so happens that the places I wanted to visit were related to the history of the Black people in the city. Yet the Miami shown in US TV shows and movies is still the white luxury Miami. The Miami of “Moonlight” is the low-class Black Miami, but it’s also the theater stage of both bright and dark sides of humanity. African American people are often blamed for thinking of themselves as the only Black (oppressed) people in the world and for ignoring the Black experience outside of the United States. And I think Juan being Afrocuban makes him aware that the world isn’t limited to his neighborhood in Miami, that his individual history is the product of a world history which makes him able to figure out where he stands within the dynamics ruling US society. It is because he is Afrocuban that he’s all the more aware of the importance of choosing who we want to be and not letting anyone choose for us.
When he recounts an anecdote from his childhood in Cuba, he places himself at the center of his narrative and proves that he hasn’t forgotten his roots. He was running one night when the moon was dazzling. An old woman stopped him and told him that he looked blue and that she would call him "Blue" from now on. This metaphor of dark skin being so black that it looks blue is the name of the original play from which the film is adapted from: "In moonlight, Black boys look blue". Tarell Alvin McCraney created Juan from Blue, a drug dealer who played the role of father figure that Juan has for Chiron. Was this Blue Afrocuban too? I don't know. In any case, I grew up in Guadeloupe hearing this expression: "he's so black that he's blue". In my previous review, I said that “Moonlight” was the first time I saw dark black skin represented through a non-judgmental lens. I take back what I said. It isn’t that “Moonlight” doesn’t pass on a judgment on dark skin. “Moonlight” passes on a positive judgement on dark skin. The last image with Chiron as a child contemplating the ocean in the moonlight gives the dark black skin a poetic beauty that I have never seen before and have yet to see again*.
“Moonlight” is in the top 5 of my favorite movies of all time. It's the kind of movies that I know will accompany me throughout my life. It's the kind of movie that makes me say every time I watch it "I wish I could have created something so powerful... I want to create something so powerful". I will work hard to reach this goal.
* I heard that the cinematography of “Atlantic” by Mati Diop is also gorgeous but I have yet to see it.