MOVIE REVIEW: CHEVALIER

C.V.R. The Bard

2 years ago

I caught an evening showing of Chevalier last night and when the credits rolled I couldn’t help but exclaim “What an useful idiot!”. This film arrived in an apt time where entertainer Jonathan Majors is losing what little status he has as an entertainer in European society. There were multiple points in the film where I couldn’t help but point out the stupidity of Chevalier, who as the film progressed decided to play stupid and expected the viewers of his story to play along with him, but I could not.

I don’t feel sorry for an adulteror who’s love triangle gets upended. I don’t feel sorry for a member of the African diaspora who banked on bedwenching to get out of her flashbacks to be hunted by men that (given her track record of offspring) she most likely found to be an arousing game.

I don’t feel sorry for Marie Antoinette who used Chevalier (which was a pet title she gave him, rarely in this film was Chevalier referred to by his real name Joseph Bologne) as a token, discarded him and then expected him to still be in her pocket as the chips fell down around her.

I don’t feel sorry for those of the African diaspora who decided to stay in France after their losing fight in the Revolution where they were re-enslaved, instead of staying in Haiti and growing the economy there where members of the African diaspora fought off European colonization.

As Chevalier progressed and the FOX Searchlight fell on these characters in history, I felt sorry for none of them. Chevalier is cast with irredeemable characters who play stupid games and win stupid prizes. Chevalier frankly shot it’s load too early as a drama in regards to any sympathizing aspects. After winning the battle with Mozart before the opening credits, Chevalier is a protagonist the crowd can root for, but after those credits, those cheers quickly turn into boos for the remaining hour and change runtime, thanks to Stefani Robinson deciding to write a taboo romance play instead of focusing her script on the reason why Chevalier is history, his music. I viewed this narrative as a cautionary tale for a “black” man such as myself.

Further evidence that the only way to gain repute in a world colonized by Europeans is through some form of entertainment (sports,music,etc.) is as a court jester. Just as I grew tired of the Civil Rights and Trans-Atlantic slave trade films around the late 2010’s, films like this and the recently released Sweetwater (which hit the box office a week prior to Chevalier) have now forced me to grow tired of films depicting historical “black” figures; since all the MPAA can seem to greenlight is the downfall of entertainers instead of the genius of inventors when it comes to the African Diaspora.

I’d rather have seen Stephen Williams and Stefani Robinson collaborate on a film about Marie Van Brittan Brown creating the modern home security system instead of this film premiering in the same week Ralph Yarl got shot ringing a door bell in Killa City.