Hello, everyone, and welcome to my new series. In this series, I will dive through movies that are lesser-known or have lost at the box office and argue why you should watch them. I obviously rate these movies highly, and I hope you find new movies that you'll like in this series. Today's movie is
Sorry To Bother You
Quick Summary
This summary won't include anything outside the trailer.
Cassius is a broke black man who is desperate for a job that he chooses to work for a telemarketing company. He struggles at work, which leads a coworker to suggest he uses his "white voice", that advice pays off as Cassius goes higher in the ranks thanks to his "white voice".
Cassius enters a world that shows how capitalism strives all the while attempting to balance his home life with his artist/rebel girlfriend, adding to that a man going from town to town creating protests.
What Makes The Movie Special?
The movie is absurd, not that it's silly, but rather has an absurdist approach. When you really think about it, most movies have a political message nowadays unless they were superhero movies. This movie is no different. What's different, however, is that it doesn't forget to be a movie in the process.
Unlike many movies like "Don't Look Up" where the actors might as well just get their heads out of your screen and scream their points directly at you, this movie feels like it was inspired by an idea and not a movie attempting to push an idea. It creates a world with a point of view beautifully and then you may or may not agree with it.
The Ideas
The overall ideas aren't really anything I agree with personally. But, as I said, the movie feels like a conversation with a friend you disagree with. It points out that its problem is with the system and not aiming to attack people personally, evident by the fact that the moviemaker taking out the line "Worry Free is making America great again" even though it was written before Trump became president.
The movie doesn't make it a secret that it is anti-capitalist in the sense of how it attempts to control people. Also, it takes a very false consciousness, Marxist approach that you may or may not agree with, but you will definitely enjoy and appreciate the way it is laid out.
The Script
One thing our main character has to always do is stick to the script. He is not allowed to deviate from it and go against it. The goal is to increase the corporation's (Named Worry Free) revenue. As an employee, you're not allowed to have or apply your own thoughts, especially if they were more human-based but could decrease revenue. There's a certain feeling of dehumanization to the employees, especially when coupled with
The "White Voice"
The "white voice" is something displayed by literally having white actors voice the black characters at times is intriguing as it is not based on a racial difference as much as it is used to point out how marketing is done in a way that is meant to be soothing and "worry-free". All employees need to have a specific corporate-created voice rather than their own.
That voice is what works for the masses, and it is what keeps them selling to the masses. The process could have been a simple "do you need this product?", but instead it became about how you can sell it using soft force.
The voice is simply about how sometimes we need to be something we're not in order to gain something.
The Third Act
The third act seems to be where people are disagreeing the most and I will leave the judgment of that to you. But, it is important to remember is that the movie has its own point to make.
Now, for the best part about the movie.
The World
The movie creates a very intriguing world around the characters. The post-traumatic growth in some characters, the most popular show resembles our vicarious nature, the corporatization of national heroes, meme-based celebrities.
The movie does a great job with its metaphors, it goes further and further away from reality in order to explain reality. The Easter eggs are a joy to get through.
In Conclusion
All of the movie aspects create an immensely great cinematic experience that I feel you'd be missing out on if you don't watch it yourself.
