I'm on the Bus

Again, I don't always know why I get certain movies from Netflix, but regardless I sat down to watch Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996) after it came in the mail. Its a Spike Lee movie through and through, at points I just wanted Spike to come on screen and tell us exactly how he feels about the blight of the black man in modern society. But one of the reasons Spike Lee is more than just a polarizing figure is because he is a storyteller first and foremost and he is able to somehow transcend his preachiness and give us an enjoyable character study.

Get on the Bus surrounds a group of black men from all different walks of society taking a long bus ride to Washington D.C. for the million man march in 1996. What makes this film work is the great acting and the characters that Lee gives us. These characters walk a fine line between being pawns in Lee's social point and being three dimensional characters. There is a biracial cop, a documentary filmmaker, an old timer, an actor, a gay couple, two different bus drivers, the ring leader, and the black republican to name a few. All of these characters serve a purpose both as points to be made and in the story itself.

There are times when the dialogue goes overboard, speeches are made, reactions are had that seem false and contrived but in the end the film is just as much about the people as it is about its message. Lee raised money and shot this movie quickly on 16 mm. I think if he had more time or money this film would have fallen really flat. It has an energy and sense of purpose that works well, more time and precision and I probably would have hated this film.

A couple standout performances are from the great Ossie Davis and Andre Braugher, two characters that are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Get On The Bus feels like a slice of life at a time that may not always be remembered. Yes all these characters are larger than life, but this film isn't a documentary it is a sense of heightened reality. It is very difficult as a filmmaker to make a 2 hour movie where the camera stays on a bus the whole time and all we do is listen to conversations, but Lee pulls it off and I have to give him credit for that.

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