Black Lives Matter Spotlight: Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You (6/21/2020)
- Heather German
- Jun 28, 2020
- 4 min read
Of all of the films I've review for this series, this is my favorite. Surely it is the one that means the most to me personally. For a long time leading up to this, I had been slowly growing and developing my socio-political opinions from the moderate I was in High School to the radical leftist I am now. Sorry to Bother You on its own wasn't the catalyst for this change, but it represented a huge milestone in the growth of my beliefs, and took a lot of the threads that had been developing for me and tied them together, setting the stage for the growth that was eventually to come.
Sorry to Bother You follows a simple set up; a young man by the name of Cassius Green gets a job at a telemarketing company, where he struggles to adapt until his coworker shows him the secret of the "White Voice." Meanwhile, his coworkers begin to get together to organize a union to get more pay from a company that gives them pocket change for their work. This setup escalates, at first gradually and then rapidly, into something far bigger and more sinister than anyone could imagine - and it's an incredible ride throughout.
I've heard someone refer to Sorry to Bother You as a better version of the 2006 comedy/satire film Idiocracy, replacing its lazy misanthropy and pro-eugenics message with a deep and insightful take down of late stage capitalism. The world of Sorry to Bother You is an alternate version of Oakland that in some ways is similar to real life, yet in others is a dystopian nightmare. Workers everywhere are suffering as nobody gets paid enough, the top watched show in America is a game show where people are beaten up on screen, and the biggest corporate giant is WorryFree, a company that sells lifelong contracts to workers that provide them food and shelter in exchange for work without pay. The CEO of WorryFree, Steve Lift, insists that it isn't slavery because nobody is being forced to, yet when WorryFree moves into a small town and drives out all competition, workers have nowhere else to go.
These elements, as well as several surreal touches in dialogue, set design and plot, present a version of America's near future that's as terrifying as it is absurd. Sorry to Bother You is a ridiculous, funny film, but there's something at its core that goes directly for the throat, pinning the viewer to a wall and forcing them to confront the truth of American capitalism, of how human life is nothing but a tool to be commodified for the elite, how we give up hours and hours of our time to a system that gives us nothing in return, and any attempt to better yourself and your family and work within the system will inevitably lead to a position where your success will come at the expense of others.
Sorry to Bother You is far more than just a capitalist critique, however; it is very specifically a critique of capitalism from a Black perspective. The aforementioned "White Voice" - a metafictive gimmick where the Black characters are dubbed over by white voice actors as they attempt to use this to sell more effectively - is just the beginning. Sorry to Bother You is fully aware of how the concept of Blackness is commodified by white people, how Blackness is seen as "cool" and "edgy" but never "respectable," how even the few instances of Black people becoming successful under capitalism are almost always met with further attempts to commodify them, and use them as a weapon against their own people.
Throughout Cassius's rise and fall from success and power (portrayed excellently in a leading turn from Lakeith Stanfield), we see the effects of capitalism, from the micromanagement of everything from a worker's consumption and spending habits to their feelings about their job on the small scale, to the deliberate, widespread enslavement and exploitation of workers through careful planning and manipulation of the media and legal systems. The real key that makes Sorry to Bother You work so well, though, is in the hope for change that it brings. The ending of Sorry to Bother You is shocking and pulpy in many ways, but it's also a direct rallying cry for the masses to join together. To defeat these evils, we can't work within the system, but instead work together to bend the system's arm until it breaks. Capitalism seeks to divide us and pit individuals against their friends and family for their own success - but together, we can be unstoppable.
Sorry to Bother You isn't necessarily a perfect film - there are elements of the plot, such as an unnecessary fling between Cassius' coworker and his ex-girlfriend (who, to be fair, is the best character, played by Tessa Thompson), and a subplot about a resistance faction fighting up against WorryFree that doesn't end up being super relevant to the plot. Perhaps there is a bit too much jammed in at times, but on the whole I still have to give this movie top marks. It is so insightful on so many levels, and is such a daring and original films that any problem I could find with it is forgiven. Let's not forget the astounding direction from Boots Riley, either - Sorry to Bother You is one of the most impressive and confident directorial debuts of the decade, surpassed only by efforts like Jordan Peele's Get Out.
Sorry to Bother You is a wild, bold and innovative film that is hilarious, thrilling and disturbing in equal measure, and it's one that's deeply important to me. In these times of increasing civil unrest, it's never been more relevant.
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