Our Friend, Martin, Robert Brousseau and Vincenzo Trippetti’s 1999 time-travel tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., is as awkward as it is engaging. The dialogue is cringe-worthy. The jokes are even worse. The animation looks like Captain Planet, and the voice acting sounds like it’s comprised entirely of first takes. Yet despite its many, many flaws, the movie manages to be an oddly effective bit of After School Special-style ‘edutainment.’
No, seriously.
The bizarreness begins with the plot: Martin Luther King Jr.’s magical wristwatch (!) zaps two sixth grade slackers back in time. Skipping quickly through the 1950s and 60s, Miles (who is Black) and Randy (who is White) join King on his lifelong fight for civil rights, while simultaneously getting a firsthand look at the horrors of racism.
Degradation, segregation, firebombing and fire hoses are just a few of the old school evils the two kids encounter. There’s a pretty powerful montage halfway through the film that mixes animated versions of these atrocities with actual newsreel footage. It’s a testament to the power of these images that even the ludicrous, late-90s cartoon dialogue that bookends the scene does little to lessen their effect.
A short while later, Miles and Randy are joined in their time travel adventure by an overweight, White bully named Kyle and their class’ Hispanic Hermione Granger, Maria Ramirez. This section features film clips of the March on Washington and King’s famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. It also kicks off the movie’s second sci-fi plot twist: Miles prevents the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.!
It’s here that the movie flashes forward to an assassination-free present day, where racism runs rampant, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School is now Robert E. Lee Middle School, and Randy no longer recognizes Miles as his friend. This Days of Future Past portion is heavy-handed as hell, but I’ll be honest, I think it works.
Miles, who has up ’til now been insufferably ‘cool’ (well, the 1990′s cartoon equivalent of ‘cool’), is finally shown as just a scared and confused kid. His incessant wisecracks come to a merciful halt, and he finally seems to comprehend the dehumanizing realities of a world where racism was the norm.
Genre tropes aside, this is easily the most inspired section of the film. The truth is, those of us born after the Civil Rights era really have no way of knowing what legalized racism was like for the folks living back then. Sure, we know it was horrible. We’ve all seen the photos and film clips plenty of times. But we will never truly understand the emotional effects inflicted upon those who lived through it. And the further we get from it, the more unreal — the more mythic — it all becomes. That’s why bringing the world of 1950s and 60s into ‘the present day’ works so well here. It takes the hatred and injustice out of the history books and puts it into a context that Miles (and those watching the film today) can better comprehend.
Is Our Friend, Martin a perfect film?
Not even close.
But does it do what it set out to do? Does it present the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. in a manner that makes him less of a museum piece and more of a man? Does it effectively convey the horrific way that America treated its minorities in the not-so-distant-past?
You’re damned right it does.
Magical wristwatch and all.
Our Friend, Martin is currently out of print on DVD. That said, you can still find new and used copies on Amazon.
