Andre Gaines' psychological thriller, The Dutchman (2026), an adaptation of Amiri Baraka's 1965 play, gives a modern twist to the original ending, suggesting that the Black man of the 21st century is no longer afraid to confront his fears. He will never hesitate to speak out against racism and Western "rationalism," and he will no longer be defeated by the ills of Western society. The film introduces us to Clay, a conflicted man grappling with a double consciousness and a sense of duality.
He is American and Black, and he struggles to find balance between his two conflicting identities. In short, Clay is somewhat lost. He no longer knows who he is. And to top it all off, his wife, Kaya, cheated on him because he couldn't give her the time she needed. Clay experiences a whirlwind of emotions but can't find the right words to explain himself. This is where Dr. Amiri comes in. He believes all of Clay's problems can be solved with a little adventure: a subway ride, a stranger, and an unforgettable night. So, without further ado, let's discover how a mysterious encounter changes Clay's perspective on life and helps him delve deeper into his inner self.
Director: Andre Gaines
Writers: Qasim Basir, Andre Gaines, Amiri Baraka
Stars: André Holland, Kate Mara, Stephen McKinley Henderson
In the film, Clay and Kaya's therapist, Dr. Amiri Baraka (named after the author of the original novel), claims to have written "Dutchman" in 1964, through which he conjured an evil that feeds on division, like Clay. But this wasn't what Dr. Amiri intended. He had created this cruel character to draw his readers' attention to the ills of Western society, but to his horror, his creation spiraled out of control. His narrative became reality, and he was powerless to stop it. Every young man Lula attacked on the subway had the opportunity to choose his own destiny, but unfortunately, each of these men in three-piece suits chose to remain silent. They refused to speak out against Lula's racism, thus allowing evil to take hold. I suppose it should have been pretty obvious by now that Lula isn't just a demon, but rather symbolizes everything wrong with Western society. Take racism, for example. In the film, Lula is over 80 or 90 years old and has disguised herself as a 30-year-old white woman, much like racism, which is a modern yet ancient evil that the United States has been trying to solve. In some ways, the problem may seem new on the outside, but on the inside, it's the same old story repeating itself.
So, you might be wondering why Dr. Amiri involved Clay in this conflict. Well, it's because Dr. Amiri knew that Clay was going through a crisis of his own making. He was caught between who he really was and who he was meant to be, and to finally find himself, Clay needed a push: an evil that would give him some clarity about himself. So Dr. Amiri put Clay in the picture and made him the protagonist of his play. After his first encounter with Lula, Clay tried to run away from her, but Dr. Amiri told him in prison that his fate was sealed and that he could do nothing to change it, and that he would die by the end of the night. It was then that Clay decided to face his fears and took the subway a second time that same night.
Lula tried to seduce him once more, but when Clay refused to give in to her advances and sexual manipulation, she began to mock his parents and humiliate him even further. But Clay didn't look away. Instead, he stared the devil in the eye and told her bluntly that those born with the luxury of light skin cannot understand or identify with what their ancestors suffered. She knew nothing about him or where he came from. Here, "The Dutchman" is no longer just the title of the play, but refers to the Dutch ships that transported millions of Africans away from their homeland to be sold.
It's true that, like most African Americans who suffer discrimination in their daily lives, Clay also had a lot of pent-up anger. But Dr. Amiri told him that the days when a Black man would swallow any racial slur silently were over. These codes, morals, and ethics of Western civilization seek to "civilize" Black men, to suppress their anger, and to ignore everything that happens to them. But now Clay has to take off that three-piece suit and unleash the fire of anger, because it's the only way the oppressor will listen. If someone speaks ill of you, your people, or your ancestors, you don't have to ignore it. On the contrary, it's your duty to correct them, because that's how they'll learn. They'll keep dancing to the Black man's tune, never learning the true meaning, and now it's the responsibility of every Black man to teach them this lesson.
Clay told Lula she could slit her throat if she wanted, but he wouldn't repeat what her people had done to his ancestors. He became a civilized man because he wanted to forge a better future, not repeat history. If you look closely, there was a sign on the train that said "Break the Cycle." That's what Clay and his friend Warren were trying to do. He wanted to uplift the people of Harlem so they would feel equal to other men in the country. But some evil people like Lula want to push them back into the same pit their ancestors struggled so hard to climb out of. Furthermore, this cycle refers to the vicious cycle Lula had created by harassing and murdering young Black men on the subway, and the only way to end it was to rid themselves of this evil forever. To the very end, Clay didn't want to get his hands dirty with blood because he wasn't an evil man; however, when Lula attacked him with a knife, Clay had no choice but to defend himself. And in that struggle, Lula lost his life.
But look at the irony. The two white police officers who boarded the train saw a white woman being stabbed and a Black man being wounded, and they automatically concluded that the man in front of them had killed the woman. A typical American example, to say the least. I mean, yes, this is the kind of systemic racism that Western culture needs to correct. The Black woman, whom Clay had helped earlier, kept telling the police that Clay hadn't killed the woman. She was the one who attacked Clay, but they refused to listen to her until she played the video she had recorded of Lula attacking Clay with a knife, and him acting in self-defense.
The police had to let him go. The Mystic Lady had previously told Clay that his destiny would be different because he was a kind man who had love by his side, and through a simple act of kindness, Clay was able to break the cycle. I think this is why Clay told Lula that she could resort to violence like everyone else, but chose not to. He wants to rebel against the evil system, but by following a code of civic conduct. Choosing nonviolence instead of harming his oppressors to set an example for future generations. And at the risk of repeating myself: choosing a nonviolent way to fight the system is not the same as ignoring evil. Those who were once victims of Lula tended to ignore the problem and turn a blind eye, but Clay decided to find his voice so he could present his ideals without losing his...
So, after confronting the demon, Clay returned to his wife, Kaya, to talk to her, because he was no longer afraid to share his feelings. He had regained his voice to explain what had been happening and how hurt he was when she cheated on him, but now he had the courage to face the past so that together they could embark on a new future. Inside the house, Clay took out a copy of Dutchman and found it completely blank.
I suppose the reason was that Clay had cleared the confusion from his life and taken control of his own destiny, ready to write his own story instead of following the path others had laid out for him. Even in the final sequence, Dr. Amiri told him that "the past is prologue," to which Clay replied that it doesn't have to be, possibly suggesting that he wants to cherish his past because it has taught him an important lesson about himself, and that if he finds himself in a similar situation in the future, this past will remind him that he already defeated evil once and can do it again.
Okay, one last question. Was everything that happened between Lula and Clay real? I mean, Dr. Amiri kept telling Clay that it was all fiction. And then we also saw a time-reverse shot that suggested the events of that night weren't real at all. If you ask me, I suppose Dr. Amiri planted this modern myth in Clay's subconscious. In the film's opening scene, after Kaya leaves the therapist's house, Dr. Amiri takes Clay on a wild adventure, forcing him to look inward and rediscover his lost self. Once he finds his balance and silences his inner demons, he leaves Dr. Amiri's house and walks home to talk with Kaya so the couple can resolve their differences and move toward a brighter future.
Comments
Post a Comment