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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 26 april 2018
Review: Rachel Dolezal documentary fascinating, well-crafted
By MARK KENNEDY door.
AP Entertainment Writer Brownson weaves lots of
There's a scene at the end pieces of the identity puzzle,
of the Netflix documentary including tracing Dolezal's
about controversial figure tortured family history, valid
Rachel Dolezal when she and devastating criticisms
enters a DMV and comes of what her actions mean
out a few minutes later with for the black community,
a new name. "A new start," and even a conspiracy
she says. The whole pro- theory for why she was am-
cess seems painless and bushed on camera at the
courteous. If only she could time she was. Dolezal is also
change other parts of her nicely integrated into a
identity so easily. larger discussion of modern
"The Rachel Divide" is a fas- America's grappling with
cinating, comprehensive identity fluidity.
and well-crafted docu- Brownson got footage of
mentary about a one-time Dolezal behind the scenes
civil rights activist in Wash- at the "Today" show and
ington state whose life a remarkable sequence in
unraveled after she was which she shows us what
outed as a white woman it takes to get her hair ex-
pretending to be black. tensions ready for the day.
Director Laura Brownson There are also sad mo-
has masterfully unpacked ments, as when she scrolls
and knitted together this through Instagram and
complicated figure, who finds ugly invective hurled
still seems to elude easy at her. (Why she continues
answers. Is she a calculat- to post anything with so
ing faker, a perfect symbol many trolls about remains
of white privilege? Or is she a mystery.) The filmmak-
simply naive? ers also use old footage of
This film says she can be This image released by Netflix shows Rachel Dolezal in a scene from the documentary "The Ra- Dolezal leading Black Lives
both, just as Dolezal checks chel Divide," premiering April 27. Matter marches or defend-
both white and black box- Associated Press ing the African-American
es on the hospital form to community in Spokane
describe herself when her been criticized for giving a as a media sideshow, has seeking culture vulture who — and confront the de-
third son is born. Netflix has platform to Dolezal, who, damaged the airing of ac- loves the narrative of op- structive irony of what that
tual racial grievances. But pression. Or perhaps, as the means.
it is a film that raises serious film offers, her childhood The soundtrack has a quirky
questions about race in was so awful at the hands collection of songs that
America and it gets some of white religious zealot explore identity or seem
serious answers. parents — filled with abuse to comment directly on
Anyone tuning in hoping and neglect — that she Dolezal's dilemma, includ-
that Dolezal has some- ran as far as she could and ing Ben Harper's "ID" and
thing more profound to say never looked back. If that's the classics "I've Got You
about her personal journey the case, then her cultural Under My Skin" by Cole
other than she is "transra- appropriation was more a Porter and Nina Simone's
cial" are out of luck. She still desperate search for ref- "Don't Let Me Be Misunder-
seems as stumped by her uge, however ill-advised. stood."
own curious path as that The filmmakers recorded There are many touches
infamous time in 2015 when Dolezal for over a year a of real art, including about
she was first unmasked by half, charting the after- halfway through, when
a local TV reporter with the math of her public fall and Dolezal asks a friend how
question: "Are you African- her attempt to rehabilitate she can turn her life around.
American?" herself, as well as the qui- "Move to Mars," she is told.
Stubbornly, years later she et times with her sons and Flash forward to the last
won't back down. She sister. Some of the scenes scene: Dolezal is pushing
won't say she's white and are wrenching, as her sons her newborn in a stroller to a
just end the controversy. — teenager Franklin and wispy cover of David Bow-
She continues to identify former-adopted-brother- ie's "Life on Mars," the per-
as black and even dou- turned-son Izaiah (we told fect outsider soundtrack to
bles down, changing her you it was complicated) a woman disliked by white
name to Nkechi Amare Di- — appear like collateral and blacks alike, chart-
allo. "I can't just go away," damage, mere bystanders ing her own surreal course
she warns. But can a white forced to endure what their along the racial fault lines
woman ever really under- mom has unleashed. They of current America.
stand systemic discrimina- are in many ways the real "The Rachel Divide," a Net-
tion, racial profiling and heroes, caught between flix release, is rated TV-MA.
self-hatred when she's not love of mother, gotcha Running time: 100 minutes.
gone through it? journalism and huge social Three stars out of four.
Perhaps Dolezal is a fame- movements outside the q
