SLC-S25/W1-Movie Snapshots|Around the world (The Movie "Straw")

Introduction

Last week has been making waves with the release of Tyler Perry's film Straw. Just like every movie he has produced, it speaks of a broken Black woman passing through own life crisis or the other.

screenshot from my phone

The only difference is that this one really tugged the emotions of it's viewers especially when it's been played by Taraji P. Henson, then you know it's going to be a good one to watch.

Talk about the main idea of the movie

If there one sentence I can use to describe the film, it would be:

Poverty is expensive. You honestly don't know how blessed you are if you have the money to sort your bills whenever the need arises. And also be careful who you choose to have a child with.

About the characters

Major Characters

• Janiyah Wilkinson (Taraji P. Henson) carried the emotional connection of the film. You can tell she's an actor that gets into it to make her audience feel what this character has feeling.

• Nicole Parker (Sherri Shepherd), is the brank manager at the bank Janiyah went to cash her check but was told she can't until she brings her ID. She is one of the person who was kind to Janiyah, and understood her predicament.

• Detective Kay Raymond (Teyana Taylor), came to investigate the robbery/murder at the grocery store and later came for the bank too.

• Richard (Glynn Turman), Janiyah's employer though struggling with his store lacks empathy and doesn't seem what Janiyah is going through.

• Benny (Sinbad), the old man Janiyah gives money despite not having much herself.

Minor characters

• Chief Wilson played by Rockmond Dunbar
• Tessa George played by Ashley Versher
• Det Grimes played by Mike Merrill

Describe the plot of the movie.

The movie Straw that has got everyone talking starts with Janiyah (Taraji P. Henson), a single mother raising her child the best way she can.

This particular day seems to be going bad and she's reaching the lady straw where she can't deal with anymore mess on her plate.

She wakes up as usual to get her baby prepared for school, discovering that her baby girl needs $40 to pay for lunch as she can eat with others.

screenshot from my phone

As she leaves for school run, we see Janiyah give money to an old man sitting in front of her neighborhood while the landlord reminds her to pay her rent or be evicted. She promises to pay that day since she will be receiving her paycheck, so he doesn't have to worry.

Janiyah concludes dropping Aria at school leaving the school's principal shock to see her. The reason for this shock is what we don't know.

She heads off to work at a Grocery Store as a store attendant before she gets a call from a chool requesting her presence. Her boss, refuses at first but later agrees only on the condition she comes back in the next 30 minutes which Janiyah accepts.

screenshot from my phone

Janiyah arrives at the school in time to see Child Services taking her daughter away while she begs them to leave her daughter for her but they refuse.

Going back to work, she has a encounter with a nasty cop who threatens to run her off the road. Finally, she gets back to work to find out she has been fired for coming back 2 hours later and won't be given her paycheck in hand but via mail later in the day.

She heads home to find out she has been evicted with all her belongings outside the building. Left with no other choice, she returns back to her workplace to demand her paycheck be given to her which turns for worse when an armed robber confronts them demanding her Boss hands over his money while Janiyah hands over her daughter's backpack she was holding. Janiyah refuses and before long, a struggle starts with her getting hold of the gun, killing the armed robber and her boss when he accused her fo being part of the robbery plan.

screenshot from my phone

She heads into the bank to cash her money but was told she wouldn't be given the money without her ID card.

At this point, we see she's had it up to her neck and can't take it anymore and pulls the gun on the bankers. They mistook the backpack in her hand as a bomb, escalating the situation and alerts the cops, and the whole world because one of the bank employee was live streaming every event taking place at the moment.

Detective Kay Raymond (Teyana Taylor) did her best to diffuse the situation having empathy and a feeling of what went wrong.

This movie gave us an unexpected twist we didn't see coming. While Janiyah was about to follow the cops outside, she gets a call from her mother who doesn't understand what's going on. She tells Janiyah her daughter was dead and has been in fact dead the whole time everything was going on.

So who was the girl we saw Janiyah with? Nobody but her illusions. At that point, she was just living in a world she created to cope with the trauma of losing her baby girl.

Setting of the movie

The movie was set in Los Angeles, Tyler Perry Studios. The background depicts the kind of life one who's struggling to make ends meet. It made it easy to relate to it because a lot of people is actually living such lives right now.

Lessons I learnt from the film

• Be grateful for the little you have. Be kind to one another, you never know what your neighbor might be going through.
• Be careful who you decide to have a child with. It's not easy raising a child alone especially when you are not even making enough to cater for the both of you.
• Sometimes keeping quiet makes things worse. Don't try to hold it all in thinking you can manage it alone, you can't. Find someone who you can talk to. She has her mother but choose to deal with her pains alone.
• Never assume. Just like the bank manager assumed she was with a bomb which only turned out to be her daughter's backpack. It leads to miscommunication, misunderstood and before long things are being escalated.

If you were the Director of the movie what would you do differently?

Empathy goes a long way. I would add scenes where someone had ay least showed her a little kindness before stepping into the bank.

Conclusion

This movie is relatable because I understand how it feels when you don't have the money to buy something as basic as food and only have to rely on your friends to feed for the day. When it usually happens, you would get the most annoying and frustrating temptations that it takes sheer strength to resist from it.

I see a woman who's soul has left her and she's just living with the last strength in her, own who refuses to face the truth until it comes blowing up in her face.

Rating: Overall, I rate the movie 8/10, it worth watching.

I invite @deelyt, @tripple-e, and @mariez to also participate in this contest.