This is the story of a black man and his midlife crisis.
In Pittsburgh in the 1950s, Troy lived in the city's lower neighborhoods, doing the lowest jobs like any other black man. He complained that the company only allowed white drivers to drive garbage trucks, while blacks could only follow the trucks to carry trash cans. During this period, the United States was on the eve of racist change, and every black man was eagerly looking forward to the change, but Troy disagrees with this. Like most black people, he has suffered too many unfair treatment in his life. He no longer believes that there is hope for society to change.
However, Troy is lucky again. Compared with more homeless and rough street compatriots, at least he still owns a house. After a week of work every Friday evening, he will sit at his home with his old white friend Bono. After a few drinks in the backyard, his wife Rose would come and chat with them. At this time, Troy will temporarily forget the hard and boring life, but the baseball hanging on the tree is still reminding him of the dream he once had.
Troy was a baseball player. After the war, he joined the local black baseball league and was eager to enter the national baseball professional club. Because he was nearly forty, no team gave him a chance. Troy, whose hope was dashed, could only be a sanitation worker to support his family, but he couldn't let it go. He believed that the root cause of his failure to realize his baseball dream was social discrimination against black people, while many white people with average skills could play in the major leagues. . For this reason, he even stopped his younger son Corey from practicing football. Even though he had been recognized by the college team, Troy still insisted that white people would not allow black people to appear on the field.
But he is obviously ignoring reality. After World War II, American society gradually abandoned the racist system. More and more black people have the same rights as white people. Black and white skin tones began to appear on the sports field. Troy tries to get his two sons to go their own way, for which the eldest son Lyons has broken with him, and Corey is forced to swallow his father's authority.
Troy has painstakingly established a majestic image at home, but in fact he is not as upright as he has shown. Not only did he destroy Corey's future in the team without authorization, but he also used his brother who was injured in the war to obtain government compensation. Even if he hides the secret of cheating from his friends, he can refute others righteously and awe-inspiringly after being exposed.
After the death of his lover, he even asked Rose to raise the children left behind. The whole family finally fell apart in secret. The husband and wife living under the same roof could no longer return to the past. Corey also joined the Marine Corps to stay away from his father. And Troy, until the last moment of his life, was still fighting with the god of destiny in his imagination, trying to save the defeat in his life, but unfortunately fate has not given him a chance.
This is a typical black life, full of misery in childhood and hard-fought middle age, but when he should have spent his old age in peace, he chose another path. Troy wants to escape, but he always clings to the dream he never got. He thinks that he has fulfilled his obligations, but he has been let down by the times, so he can always educate others righteously and never feel his fault. . Troy built a fence in the yard, also in his heart, he tried to use the fence to protect his inner longing, but there was nothingness. Troy attributed his lover's death to another injustice of God. He muttered to himself, waving the bat again and again to challenge God. He seemed to be just another person who was defeated by life, who just thought he was the misfortune of the times.
As a maintainer of family relationships, Rose always needs to make up for the psychological trauma her husband has brought to her son, help Lyons who are struggling in life and support Corey in pursuit of his sports dreams, and take care of Troy's mentally impaired brother from time to time. Rose is not without complaints, but she chooses tolerance and tolerance for the integrity of the family. It wasn't until Troy brought home the daughter he and someone else had, that Rose finally broke out. It can be said that Rose represented the status of black women in this period. Not only did they have to endure the widespread discrimination against blacks in the society, but they were not valued in the family, but they were the flames that supported the black society through the long winter. Without them With their selfless efforts, the black ethnic group cannot continue to grow in strength under long-term and difficult conditions. So Rose finally accepted this innocent child, she also let Lyons and Corey accept their father, from love to hate to understanding, they will remember that such a person once existed.
From beginning to end, the film does not attempt to vilify white people to express political correctness, nor does it magnify the unfair treatment suffered by black people to gain sympathy. The ups and downs and ups and downs of life do not exist here. It just tells a story about an ordinary black family in the 1950s. ordinary story. This seems to explain why August Wilson, who created such a great screenplay, has always been reluctant to let it be adapted into a movie so easily that he insisted on his deathbed that the film must be directed by a black director. Unless black people have personal experience of this era, I am afraid it is difficult to tell this seemingly calm story in a calm tone, and white directors are prone to fall into the trap of clear black and white when operating subjects involving racism , the excessive pursuit of emotional catharsis and contradictory opposition will further stray from the real history of black life.
This is the American past of black people and the lament of their times. It seems that black people in this period no longer have to suffer from the brutal oppression and domination of white people like their ancestors, and have a relatively free right to live, regardless of social status or attitude of white people. Everything is getting better, and the brighter future that can be seen seems to be within reach. However, the long-term traces of racism on them have long been subtly rooted in their hearts. Birds who have been locked in a cage for too long will be at a loss when facing the open window, and then find that they have forgotten how to fly. After going through so much hardship, black people can no longer use the equality they have been given to get the life of white people. Corey will eventually understand his father's intentions. The black man who, according to his mother's words, is nearly forty and can still compete with young white people without falling behind, has also longed for the realization of his dream in the praise of everyone, even if God will not be perfect. His life was imposed on him, and he never gave up fighting it. Troy, who used all his strength to swing a bat to his opponent, was undoubtedly worthy of a black soul.
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