I watched the recently released ‘The Piano Lesson’ on Netflix. It is an adaptation of August Wilson’s 1987 play of the same name. It is one the plays of the Pittsburgh cycle. The play is a complex drama revolving around sibling bonds, family heritage, trauma, race, identity and the horrors of the past. Having read the play a month ago, I was excited to watch the film.
‘The Piano Lesson’ is the directorial debut of Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel Washington, who is the producer of the film. John David, his other son plays the lead in the film, Boy Willie. In September of 2015, Denzel Washington had announced that he would produce all the adaptations of Wilson’s plays.
This movie is a cinematic masterpiece. A fine specimen of a cinematic work of art, it has brilliant performances by celebrated actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher and Michael Potts. John David plays a convincing role of a lively and impulsive Boy Willie.
The film provokes a much debated and often overlooked issue: What should Black people do with their heritage and history?
The story follows Berniece who lives her daughter Maretha and uncle Doaker Charles. Her brother Boy Willie shows up at the house bringing with him a truckload of watermelons to sell. He is saving money to buy the land his ancestors worked at as slaves. He wants to sell the piano: their family heirloom, to make up the cost.
The other characters who play a significant role in shaping the events of the play are Lymon (Boy Willie’s friend), Wining Boy (Doaker’s brother) and Avery (Berniece’s suitor).
The piano also becomes the apple of discord between the siblings as Berniece won’t let him sell it.
This piano is a symbol of their inherited trauma. The Charles family worked for a slaveowner named Sutter. He traded his one and a half slaves (a mother and her little boy) in exchange for the piano which he gave to his wife. But his wife soon started missing her slaves and fell sick. So Sutter asked the husband and the father of the sold slaves, who was a skilled carpenter to carve their faces on the piano. He not only did their faces but carved up his whole family. Sutter was outraged, but his wife was happy to get her slaves back. Years later, Berniece and Boy Willie’s father decided to steal the piano from Sutter’s house. He was successful in his theft but he lost his life in the ordeal.
For Berniece, the piano represents trauma her family suffered in the past. She remains fiercely protective of it. It is a symbol of the lonely and empty life her mother lived in her father’s absence. Her mother cleaned the piano with her tears. This is why, Doaker is pretty sure that Berniece will never sell the piano.
She never plays it or touches it nor lets her daughter know anything about it. Boy Willie, on the other hand, wants to put it to use. Berniece is preserving the tradition while Boy Willie is getting rid of it. Now that the last of the landowner is dead, he wants to sell it to buy the land. Then, he will be equal to the white man and will have something to pass on to the next generation.
Berniece wants to keep it hidden and Boy Willie wants to sell it off. There is no middle ground except Boy Willie’s suggestion that they should cut it in half. The piano is so heavy that Boy Willie and his friend, Lymon can’t even move it out of the house. It just sits there gathering dust and attracting ghosts.
Berniece thinks she saw Sutter’s ghost in the house. Later, Maretha also sees it. She wants Boy Willie to leave so the ghost will go away with him. She thinks her brother killed Sutter to buy his land. The reason for her bitterness stems from the instance when her husband, Crawley went to smuggle some wood out of a farm with Boy Willie and Lymon and was shot dead when he tried to run. She blames her brother for his death. Boy Willie throughout the play, maintains his innocence in both deaths.
Although his sister and him don’t get along very well, Boy Willie loves his niece. He teaches her to play the piano. He even calls Berniece out when she remarks that if Maretha was a boy, she wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of doing her hair. He won’t let her talk to the child like this. He remains steadfast in his resolve to sell the piano until he himself experiences the wrath of Sutter’s ghost. He finally leaves. He tells Berniece that if she doesn’t play the piano, him and Sutter are going to keep coming back.
Boy Willie is the anti-hero no one expects him to be. His pragmatism makes him a go-getter and he is unapologetic in whatever he does. He thinks low of Avery who is happy only receiving a turkey at Thanksgiving from the white man. ‘I can buy my own turkey,’ he proclaims. He does not think himself to be inferior of the white man or letting the past bring him down.
Berniece, on the other hand, holds the past close to her. She holds to the memory of her parents and is unable to move on from Crawley. Avery keeps asking her for marriage and she keeps telling him she isn’t ready. However, it is Lymon who brings her out of her shell. He opens her up and the two share an intimate moment. Lymon did not pester Berniece or challenge her ideals like Avery did. He let her come to him. All he did was be vulnerable with her. He told her his heart’s desire and Berniece gave in. Although nothing conclusive happens in the rest of the play but viewers can see that Berniece is starting to learn the art of letting go.
The other best thing about the movie is its music. The energetic and soulful music captures the essence of the play. The first music sequence features the men of the play: singing together and strengthening their bond. The bar where Boy Willie and Lymon go to show the life outside of the Charles household. The final and the most definitive musical scene is when Avery who will soon be a priest performs a sort of exorcism on the house to get it rid of Sutter’s ghost. He fails and it is Berniece who pulls the plug on Sutter.
‘The Piano Lesson’ is one of the few films of this decade that will be remembered for a long time for the pure artistic cinematic talent it has shown. The cinematic art has been brought out from the play so effortlessly that Wilson’s spirit makes itself known in every scene. It is a movie that deserves to be known for decades.
What is your opinion on the treatment of Black history in mainstream media? Do you think it is adequately captured? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Leave a Reply