2018 Directed by Laura Brownson
Rachel Dolezal became infamous when she was unmasked as a white woman passing for black so thoroughly that she had become the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter. This portrait cuts through the very public controversy to reveal Dolezal’s motivations.
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Overall, this is a perfect example of a good documentary. It gives us insights on the subject, no matter how controversial, and we can build our own opinions based on that. This rating is based on the great execution of the film, not on its subject.
I don't believe anyone in their right mind would condone what Dolezal is doing: trying to impersonate blackness and advocating for it using her children - who are actual black men - as a shield. What I believe in, however, is that Rachel is a deeply traumatized person who is going too far to detach herself from all the awful experiences she had to go through in her childhood.
The faces of all the black people in the audience listening to the lecture/interview with Rachel Dolezal was just too funny. Also, this was a weak attempt for people to try to feel for her.
Uuuuhhhhhh so I only wanted to watch this to see what angle they were going to take it and how biased or unbiased it was going to be, and I think that it’s a good documentary but I don’t see why they made it. I just feel sorry for her kids and she can see how it’s painful it is for them. I can’t see how this documentary is going to improve the situation though, like it’s just regurgitating the issue again and won’t bring closure. I think the one think that it does bring to light is the background of her parents because that was something I heard about but never knew what actually happened.
At the end I thought that she was going to take the braids out and actually stop but no... oh very much no...
She never woke up and said, "...I know what I’m going to do today. I'm going to be black." It just gradually happened.
This is possibly one of the most divisive topics, for sure. Some people think of Rachel Dolezal, the white women who claims to identify as black, to be a fraud. Taking a deeping look, we see her adopted siblings who are African American, and her own child, Franklin, who is part African American. Dolezal led a chapter of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington, and was outed as "white" after she was claiming to be black.
The issue goes far deeper than the media's portrayal of her as a freakshow. Her own biological parents physically abused her and…
Rachel: i just want people to leave me alone
Documentary: so why don't you just get off social media?
Rachel: cos that's the only way for people to know who i am
It aims for understanding, without ever condoning. It is genuinely even-handed. Laura Brownson's handling of Rachel Dolezal is pretty spot-on.
I doubt many people will come away from this thinking that she's doing the right thing, and it's near-impossible not to feel bad for her children, who are clearly hurting. But this documentary turns a caricature into a human, and that's laudable.
I can appreciate the project of attempting to reclaim some credibility for a controversial figure that faced intense media scrutiny and public shaming. To some degree, this movie worked to inspire some sympathy for the abuse Dolezal faced as both a victim of sexual violence and a “lying woman” in the mainstream public.
Where my sympathy ends, is at any attempt to depict this person’s struggles as racialized. It is no surprise to me that the vast majority of people willing to provide Dolezal a public platform are white women. This film’s major flaw mirrors Dolezal’s in becoming yet another major mainstream media piece foregrounding white voices while refusing to let black people speak about race.
Also, please never let me hear one more motherfucker comparing trans-racial identity to transgender experiences.
not too sure on the point of this doco - only really served to highlight what we already knew; that this woman has some serious issues and a need to steal the spotlight from real black women.
