THE BEST OF ENEMIES
Director: Robin Bissell
Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Sam Rockwell, Wes Bentley, Anne Heche, John Gallagher Jr, Bruce McGill
In 1971 North Carolina, the town of Durham became the subject of a heated discussion over school segregation. A fire broke out at a local elementary school for black students. It’s a bit unclear who started it but signs point to the local chapter of the KKK. There are two options at hand. One is for the students to finish the school year trading off time in the remaining rooms unaffected or integrate at the school used predominately by white students. When the city officials declare the students remain studying in the burned down hallways of their school, the NAACP gets involved to sue the city. A two-week meeting, called a charrette, is held to open up the conversation in hopes of voting yes to end the segregation of the schools. The two co-chairs of the meeting are Ann Atwater (Henson), a local civil rights activist who’s pitted against C.P. Ellis (Rockwell), the head of the local chapter of the KKK.
Here’s my review