Time flies so fast, it feels like I just saw “Green Book” win the Oscar for the best movie trophy, and I saw this “The Banker” with a different shell but a very similar core.
“The Banker” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Falcon Anthony Mackie.
It is worth mentioning that this movie is the first major original movie after Apple released its own streaming platform Apple TV+.
So I think “it doesn’t need to be good, take the first step steadily” to become the first priority of the film.
Time came to Texas in 1939. Bernard Garrett played by Anthony Mackie was a shoe shiner.
But he doesn’t want to be like his compatriots who can only engage in low-income jobs all his life.
At that time, the United States still implemented a strict segregation policy, and banking and other financial jobs were not allowed to participate in black people.
But Bernard Garrett’s dream is to become a banker and change his own destiny.
So he learned a lot of financial knowledge through self-study and eavesdropping on school classes.
Coupled with Bernard Garrett’s very good talent, he soon acquired the skills to engage in financial work.
Time soon came to 1954, when Bernard Garrett had already started working in real estate.
Simply put, it is to buy a property to be assessed from someone else, then renovate it, and then lease it out to earn rent.
However, according to the law at the time, the contract did not protect blacks, and blacks could not sign the contract.
So Bernard Garrett found a partnership with Joe Morris, an entrepreneur played by Samuel L. Jackson.
They found a white man to pretend to be an entrepreneur and become their vest to come forward for business negotiations.
In this way, they finally bought close to 180 properties.
But Bernard Garrett is no longer satisfied with the real estate industry.
His hometown is in Texas in the southern United States, which is one of the most racially discriminatory states.
Bernard Garrett hopes that not only he, but other compatriots can also have the opportunity to start a business, buy a house and car, and realize the American dream.
To achieve this, the only thing that cannot be avoided is loans.
So he ignored the objections of his friends and bought a bank in Texas.
In Texas where whites are supreme, a white banker will never lend to blacks.
Even black people with normal jobs can afford a certain amount of loan.
After buying the bank, Bernard Garrett, hiding from other whites, began lending to eligible blacks.
But the paper couldn’t contain the fire, and it was eventually discovered.
So the minority shareholders in the bank reported the matter to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
In the view of white people, black people cannot repay loans, so granting loans to black people will be regarded as a violation of regulations and may even be sent to court.
When Bernard Garrett stood in the courtroom, he held up the cleaner’s overalls that only black men would wear.
He exclaimed, “You can’t buy a house without a loan, you can’t start a business, which means you can’t create wealth, and it’s naturally excluded from the American dream. Why do you have to exclude a certain race from the American dream?”
This is the greatest inequality in the birth of blacks, who have been deprived of the opportunity to create wealth on a reasonable and equal basis.
“The Banker” and “Green Book” have the same core, both criticizing racial discrimination and being politically correct.
But in my opinion, there is still a big gap between it and “Green Book”.
The plot of “The Banker” and what I want to express is too neutral.
The film oscillates between thinking and not daring to say something but as if afraid of offending someone.
None of the plots of “The Banker” are expressed too deeply.
The final court summary was supposed to be a climax, but it stopped abruptly and did not have a thought-provoking effect.
What “The Banker” wants to express is that blacks are also capable of creating wealth through learning, and blacks are no worse than whites.
This reminds me of a real incident in the United States.
In the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early 20th century, black people built a prosperous black community through their own struggle.
It was even called “Black Wall Street” at one time.
All this proves that blacks are not inferior to whites, and they can also contribute to economic society.
The prosperity of the community made white supremacists very jealous. The local Ku Klux Klan gathered 1,000 people and launched an attack on the community.
In the end, Ku Klux Klan destroyed 1,200 moving houses, 300 people died, and the thriving black community was completely destroyed.
There is another interesting dark line in “The Banker”.
Bernard Garrett insists on wearing a suit and tie on all occasions.
However, as black people cannot enter the bank, they need to wear the clothes of a cleaner to get in and out.
In his opinion, he is a man and cannot compromise, but his wife has nothing to do with being a woman.
This leads to the discrimination of men against women.
There is no denying the existence of identity tags that each of us cannot avoid.
As a black Bernard Garrett is discriminated against by whites, and as a male he also discriminates against other women.
Everyone is selfishly concerned about their own interests.
Everyone is sternly condemning the discriminators above them, but they will unconsciously ignore the discriminators below them.
The historical background of the story happened when Martin Luther King led black people to set off a racial equality movement.
“I dream that one day my four children can live in a country where everyone is judged not by skin color, but by virtue of character.”
It is a pity that this dream cannot be realized only by the superficial propaganda of political correctness.
Related Post: “The Banker” confirmed the introduction of mainland China, the release date to be determined.
