'Nickel Boys' is a Painful Reminder of America's Racism
The term "try putting yourself in someone else's shoes is taken quite literally in Nickel Boys. Director RaMell Ross puts you through the point of view of the protagonist's eyes, hardly ever cutting the frame to a more conventional shot. If handled under flimsy direction the style could come across as more of a gimmick than a strong narrative device. Luckily, the POV style works here as it makes the audience not just watch the pain Elwood (Ethan Herisse) suffers throughout the film but experience it firsthand. Nickel Boys isn't your typical coming-of-age drama. It's an absorbing piece about the systemic racism that, although more openly cruel during the 60s (where most of this film takes place), is still as prevalent today as it was back then.
The film opens with Elwood's childhood. With the camera being his eyes, we view everything from a first-person perspective. Elwood doesn't have a sad upbringing Although growing up poor, Elwood works hard at getting good grades at school so he can hopefully move somewhere nice one day. Elwood is a model citizen and a figure to look up to in young black youths. Sadly, a racist American judicial system seeks to destroy Elwood's bright future.
Halfway through the film, Elwood hitches a ride from a stranger. What could possibly go wrong? During the ride, the police pull over the man driving the car, as the man tells Elwood to get ready and not say anything. Why did Elwood get arrested? Clearly, the stranger in the car resisted arrest, but they cut away from that moment, robbing the audience of a lot of context that could help enhance the story. From that moment, life starts to go downhill for Elwood.
Everything that Elwood has worked hard towards is thrown in the trash like he's not even a person, just more cattle to herded into the Nickel juvenile detention center. Nickel is a waking nightmare for Elwood. The instructors, particularly one white teacher, are abusive psychopaths who take pleasure in hurting others. Nickel has different means of punishment. One is getting raped, and the other is being thrown into a hotbox. If you've seen Cool Hand Luke, you will get an idea of what the box is.
One particuraly effective scene is when Elwood has done something supposedly wrong. So he's taken into a room, waiting with some other Nickel boys. Before one of the other boys is taken in, the white teacher removes his wedding ring and puts his finger in his mouth because you can guess where that finger is going to go. To cover up the abuse going on in the other room, a large air conditioner is turned on to quiet the sound of the victim coming from the other side of the door. The rape is filmed tastefully, where you don't need to see everything happening but can feel the anxiety of whatever's going on in the torture chamber.
The movie doesn't always soley focus on Elwood. The film switches gears to hone its POV on Turner (Brandon Wilson). Turner strikes a friendship with Elwood as the two fight to survive Nickel. Not only are students getting physically abused. Some wind up dead, yet the government disregards the facility's atrocities since it's a reform school for black kids.
The film is adapted from a 2019 book by Colson Whitehead about the Dozier School in Florida. The name of the academy was changed in the film, and the characters were fictionalized. Through film, you earn a greater truth through fiction. For instance, I don't think Richard Nixon dropped to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably next to Henry Kissinger when he resigned. But that scene in Oliver Stone's Nixon added a layer of humanity to a lionized figure. Nickel Boys sort of does the same thing. When Elwood tells Turner that he's going to bring the school down, I question if someone really did that while they were in the school. I'm guessing it happened afterward. For the sake of the narrative, I see why Director RaMell Ross and co-writer Colson Whitehead made Elwood's decision take place when it did.
Some missing elements in the plot could have been provided to strengthen the narrative. For instance, We don't know what the driver did that caused Elwood to be imprisoned. We also don't know how the two boys got out of Nickel. They try to escape at one point but it doesn't work out at all. One character is hunted and close to being fatally injured, but the film doesn't show us how that boy recovers. Large events in the picture are made for the audience to imagine and put together what happened. I appreciate that approach; it's just that the narrative would have been stronger if there had been more clarity around the major plot points of the film.
In the beginning, the film is told in continuity. Midway through the third act, it's told out of continuity. The movie cuts away from the reform center in the 60s to the 2000s with a shot of the back of someone's head. The camera never moves away from the rearview of the stranger we're following, although it's not hard to guess who it is. The stranger browses the internet, looking up Nickel Reform Center. We then cut back to Elwood and Turner in the reform center. The film would have been much stronger if it was told in continuity throughout the whole thing. Heck, this could be a three-hour film, and I wouldn't mind. Even with the structural flaw, Nickel Boys is a novel rendition of a country that can't defeat its prejudice.
Nickel Boys is a movie based on a book that feels like you're reading the book. By using a first-person view, you feel like you're reading the passages taken from Elwood and Turner's memoirs. RaMell Ross creates a prime example of how to tell an effective story by breaking cinema conventions. Stylistically, it's the type of film I'd like to see more of. Not every film needs a master shot, over-the-shoulder angles, or tons of coverage.
Nickel Boys is a depressing reminder of how racially divided America is, taken through the victims' eyes. It's a picture that's nearly incredible; if not for some of the movie's sloppy structure and gaping plotholes, it could have been something really special instead of just very good, which is what it is.
