Black Snake Moan

Director: Craig Brewer
(2007)

Can someone please explain to me what on Earth an actor like Samuel L. Jackson is doing acting alongside the likes of Christina Ricci (former Addams Family star), Justin Timberlake (former BOY BAND member), and David Banner (best left behind the scenes in the rap industry)? He must truly be on hard times. I can't imagine what posessed him to do his last four films: The Man (wtf?!), Freedomland (gag!), Snakes On a Plane (I really just don't want to go there), and Black Snake Moan.

Anyway, Black Snake Moan is horrible for a number of reasons, not just the casting. It has many questionable social implications especially when it comes to women. I can definitely tell that Craig Brewer is a male who's playing the scorned lover right now for his portrayal of women in this film. Ok, first and foremost there is Lazarus' wife who leaves him for his brother and then Rae, the sex addicted, uber dependent boyfriend leech who freaks whenever her boyfriend leaves her for the army. Her nymphomania is taken advantage of and she is raped in a football field in a crowd of people at a party, beaten and left for dead where Lazarus' finds her, nurses her back to health and then chains her to a radiator to cure her of her demon. Its outrageous! It implies that a woman is nothing without a man and the women throughout the film are treated so brutally and depicted as worthless sluts.
As a woman in 2007 I am naturally dismayed by it and I certainly think that Samuel L. Jackson is worthy of MUCH, much better roles.

The only parts of the film that I enjoyed was the speech by the blues artist at the beginning of the film and when Lazarus performs in the club. Oh yes, and of course a third thing, the appearances of S. Epatha Merkerson! She's been on her way up since Lackawana Blues (what a treat?!)! And this is not saying much for 116 minutes of film.