Sorry but I don't fully understand parts of this movie. Maybe I need to watch it again. It just seemed long and drawn out. I understood certain metaphors or a feww scenes but other than that it was hard to stick with it. I just saw this a few weeks ago on Black Starz late at night. Maybe I was too tired to get to full meaning of the movie. I'm trying to get a better understanding by peoples reviews here.
share[deleted]
If you were watching this in 1970, the meaning would have been alarmingly obvious, albeit shocking in some ways.
The story doesn't hold up now as it did in the early 70s. van Peebles was in the right place at the right time with this film.
Basically, Sweetback, a rather mute sex performer, beats two cops, has sex with a white woman, and flees to Mexico. It was a film of empowerment, and it was shocking, not just for the above aspects, but also because of things like the fact that the movie opened up with a young Sweetback having sex with a hooker.
Some critics thought that scene was pretty clever, but these critics simple overanalyzed the scene and found a meaning that wasn't intended. The way they saw it, it was to show that Sweetback was still very much a child when he emerged from the sheets as a grown man. Melvin van Peebles said that the scene was actually just to show Sweetback had been at it for a long time.
Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment. -Michael Corleone