Black Panther (2018)

Directed by Ryan Coogler

Imdb: 7.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

"In times of crises, the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers."

Do you remember what you were doing in February 15th 2018?

I do.

I was standing in line with Sannie, to load up on some popcorn and a huge cup of Ice Tea, to see the highly anticipated Marvel Movie, Black Panther.

I am a huge fan of the MCU, and ever since I found out that there was a Black Panther movie to be released, I had to see it on the first day it's out.

This movie was astonishing, a 10/10 would recommend. In fact, it was so good that we went to see it 10 times (or more? I do not remember exactly, there once was a Saturday, where we saw it two times in a row- no regrets) 

It's the way it represents black people and painted them in a positive light, that is creating a magnificent movement. Having people rushing to the theaters and buying tickets.

So, I am not going to do a formal movie review of the movie, but instead I will showcase my opinion of it. Pretty much breaking down my favorite parts and aspects of the film and why I love them.

First, I wanna talk about the female empowerment featured thought the film. If there is something I love, it is a strong female character and this movie did not only give us one, but multiple. Not only that, they were strong black females.

A lot of women were fighters and they were fighting out there in the battlefield. Many of the women were also bald with designs on their head, and I liked that because as a black women we are always pressured to have long straight "European" hair. Or if we dare to wear our hair naturally, we are told that is is weird and ugly.

For women in general, society makes it seem like we need to have hair to be seen as beautiful. Well not all, but many women are bald or do not have much hair, and they were very beautiful and fierce.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the movie was when Okoye- who is the general of the Dora Milaje - was in the Casino, fighting with Nakia and T'Challa, and not only were they fighting, they were kicking ass. Okoye had to wear a wig as she was undercover, however then throws it off and starts going in on everyone with her spear. 

Next, I wanna talk about Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger, who was the antagonist of the movie. I found it to be very interesting as he was the most "woke" in the movie and had motives that were actually relatable and emotional. He seemed human and that's what got me, I think. 

Well, being "woke" is.a term that's used a lot these days, and usually it is describing someone who knows what is going on politically and aware of social injustices in the world.

Killmonger makes a comment towards a museum curator, who is white, about how her people are used to taking things that don't belong to them, just like the earlier days. 

Then, when Killmonger was talking to T'challa about sharing all the vibranium (which is used to make Captiain Americas shield and Black Panthers suit) with blacks in the U.S. T'Challa responded by saying "Those aren't our people." in which Killmonger responded by asking "Didn't we all come from this continent? So aren't we all the same?"

Many people like to say that Black Panther is just a movie, or it is just something based off a comic, and that may be true, but that does not change the truth behind what is said in the move and what it represents.

We do all come from the Land of Africa, so we should all try to help each other and be more accepting of each other. Moreover, we should come together as a community instead of tearing each other down.

Lastly, right before Killmonger died he said: "Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships.Cause they knew death was better than bondage."

Moving on to other things I really loved, was T'Challa's little sister Shuri. She was lovable for so many reasons. From the very first scene they had together, they had a brother-sister relationship that was so relatable. I mean no, I do not have sibling that is a superhero, and no, I am not the super intelligent genius who can design advanced technology. But the way the acted around each other reminded me on how sibling are like around each other.

Nevertheless, other than that, Shuri was just another example of the hardcore, strong, intelligent, black female characters. She is only 16 years old, and she is in charge of all the designs and technology in Wakanda. She designed the Black Panther suit and made two more. She has also such high passion for what she makes. You could really feel that when she was explaining the train system to Agent Ross.

Honestly, she was so inspiring to me and I hope that little black girls will think the same thing. Representation seriously matters and seeing a smart beautiful black womean on big screen likee that can inspire and give hope to so many other young black girls.

Finally, I want to talk about Wakanda. It was so incredibly beautiful, the scenery was breathtaking the cinematography was magnificent and the respect that was put on the African culture was just amazing.

The small jokes that were made, the authencity of the representation of the culture, everything was just spot on. The African drums in the background for half of the scenes and the clothes everyone were wearing was another one of my favorite parts. I love how blacks were painted in a strong, independent and powerful picture.

Wakanda forever.