It’s the Fourth of July. A group of white men brutalize an Asian man while fireworks explode in the background. Crowds of families with children smile at the display, oblivious to the violence simultaneously taking place. This is the dark side of life in America.
“Roads and Bridges,” based on the real-life experiences of director Abraham Lim, is the story of a friendship that grows between two men working on a road crew in Kansas.
Gregory Sullivan plays Darrell, a black man who has worked on the road crew for years but suffers the taunts of his racist co-workers, waiting for the promotion that should come his way. Lim plays Johnson, a sullen young man placed on the road crew by his parole officer. Tormented by the death of his father some years earlier, Johnson, by virtue of his Asian ethnicity, arouses the ire of the other men on the road-crew. After Darrell saves Johnson from certain death in a raging river, the two men form a bond strengthened by their shared outsider status.
Most films about racism take place in an urban environment. Lim’s use of a Midwestern setting raises some important questions. When we talk about the “heart” of America, doesn’t that mean white America? Is there any way for minorities to be accepted outside the safety of their communities? As Prof. Ben Kim said when introducing “Roads and Bridges” at the Block Museum of Art on Feb. 5, the film is “a catalyst for talking about difficult aspects of racism in America.”
Nevertheless, “Roads and Bridges” has its flaws. For the most part, the white characters come off like stereotypes — portrayed as appalling, not to mention stupid. Lim manages to work in some interesting relationships, like the one between Johnson and Worm (Joe Michalski), a fellow road worker who collects dead animals and, though white, is also ostracized.
“Roads and Bridges” provides an engaging look at a problem many people think doesn’t exist anymore. “I grew up with great white friends, but they never knew all the racist crap I had to go through,” said Lim.
Both Lim and Sullivan — the only other actor who stayed on for the entire six years it took to make the film — give excellent performances. The length of shooting shows in the film’s evolving aesthetic, with some scenes looking amateur and others well-executed. Lim is certainly a director to watch. He handles a tough subject with aplomb, aptly demonstrating that “in rural America racial minorities are pioneers.” nyou
