Night Catches Us (2010)

This movie is good for those of us who remember the Panthers, and it is also good for those who have never heard of them. Anthony Mackie does a great job showing us a wide range of conflicting emotions. His character returns home to a 1976 Philadelphia neighborhood torn by racial and religious rifts. Kerry Washington plays the woman he left behind. Their relationship has changed as have most in the old neighborhood.

What's good here are the many directions Mackie's character is torn. Family pulls one way. Old friends and foes another. The secrets of his past pull yet another, as does his desire for the right people to know who did what to whom, when, and why. No spoilers here.

If you can ignore the cell antennas atop a building early in the movie you really do get the feeling of being "back in the day." The music is great and the surely not too much has changed in some parts of town. The cinematography is very good except for a few detail goofs, but they are very small. I loved the shot of the fireflies rising up out of the morning grass near the end of the movie.

No doubt similar scenes played out is all large US cities around this same time.

Watch this movie with someone who knows nothing of the strife and turmoil of the time.