Binding: DVD
Region: Region 1
Actor: Berlinda Tolbert, David Raibon, Ed Brigadier, Kent Faulcon
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
Run Time: 88 minutes
ASIN: B000CZ0PVW
Rated: Unrated
Manufacturer: Ariztical Entertainment
Release Date: 2006-09-19
Average Customer Review: 
(From 5 total reviews)
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Editorial Reviews
Product Description:
In 1937 after seeing a photo depicting the lynching of an African-American man in the south Bronx-born schoolteacher Abel Meeropol wrote a poem entitled “Strange Fruit” that begins with the words “Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.” After the poem was published to acclaim in a publication entitled New York Teacher Meeropol set it to music. Published under the name Lewis Allan the song gained a reputation in political circles but much wider attention came when Billie Holiday performed it at a Manhattan nightclub called Caf Society in 1939. Holiday’s record came out shortly thereafter and became one of her signature songs as well as a symbol of a grim period in American history.Through interviews and archival footage–including a striking performance of the song by Holiday from British television–director Joel Katz explains the origins of the song then gives copious evidence of its social impact–on both the public and the generations of musicians who have performed it. He explains the rocky history of the song such as Holiday’s claim that she took part in its composition as well as its appearance in the McCarthy hearings. Then Katz bravely relates the song’s significance to more recent hate crimes. STRANGE FRUIT is a fascinating journey that intertwines family music human rights and tolerance in general.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 631008060699 Manufacturer No: CQC606
Customer Reviews
Strange Fruit?….Strange Period! by Randall R. Jupiter
Great idea for a plot but, the acting was weak and the the actions taken to solve the case unbelievable.
Bitter Fruit by tmp
I can’t exactly disagree with some of the reviewers who have given this lower marks, some of the acting is atrocious, the script is too long, and because of the low budget technically it’s grasp exceeds it’s reach. I do however have to give the movie major props for not just spinning the same old cliches about Southern racism, as well as some really powerful performances, most notably from Berlinda Tolbert as a grieving mother who is hell-bent on finding her sons killers, David Raibon as the victim’s brother and especially Kent Faulcon as the childhood friend of the victim, now a successful New York lawyer brought down to help solve the case. Faulcon is a true find: he does an amazing job of radiating the emotions his character feels returning to a home on which he has turned his back, and which has in turn turned it’s back on him.
The movie’s grasp may exceed it’s reach, but the film-makers and the leads definately deserve a shot at bigger things.
Good idea, mediocre effort. by Bob Lind
In “Strange Fruit” (2004), William Boyles well remembers the racial bigotry and homophobia rampant in his home town in rural Louisiana. As an African American gay man, he got out of there as soon as he could, and is today a successful attorney in New York City. But when a call comes from the mother of his best boyhood friend, saying that her son had been lynched in an obvious hate crime which the local sheriff refuses to pursue, he catches the next plane back there to help. He immediately butts heads with the redneck, manipulative sheriff, and faces an atmosphere where not “making waves” is far more important to live peacefully, rather than pursue concepts like fairness and justice. Bullying the sheriff into providing copies of his files on the case, amd aided by the dead man’s brother and grieving mother, Boyles begins his own investigation into the murder, putting at risk his own life and anyone else who cooperates with him.
The well-intentioned and ambitious screenplay (written and directed by Kyle Schickner) unfortunately doesn’t mesh well with a small budget indie work shot directly on video. With the exception of the actors who played Boyles (Kent Faulcon) and his friend’s mother (Berlinda Tolbert, who 25 years ago played the daughter on “The Jeffersons”), the acting is mediocre at best, and the sheriff’s deputies are written as if stereotypical cartoon characters. The technical aspects are not impressive, and the sound editing is awful (volume varies greatly between characters in a scene, or from scene to scene, and background music that drowns out dialogue.) Lots of pointless, nonproductive scenes, which should have been trimmed to cut the film below its 115 minutes (The DVD incorrectly lists it as 88 minutes), and the ending is far too abrupt, leaving unresolved plot points. Would be a 2-star, but I give it a bonus for tackling a tough subject, as well as commendable acting by Faulcon and Tolbert. Three stars out of five. DVD includes deleted scenes (I would have added several!), audition tapes and director commentary.
A Film with So Many Subplots That the Strange Fruit is Just One in Bowl by Grady Harp
The opening credits for the writer/director Kyle Schickner (Full Frontal, Rose by any other Name) film STRANGE FRUIT are eloquently beautiful camera passages down a Louisiana bayou at night, the end point being an isolated little club (the Gator) reached only by a floating raft. The mood is set for an atmospheric Southern Gothic drama: what follows is an overly complicated exploration of racism, homophobia, family dysfunction, police corruption, prejudice (racial and gender), and most important gay homophobia! Too many irons in the fire make a film that has a lot of potential come to a confusing end: too many of the subplots and motivations remain unexplained.
There is a lynching of a black gay man in the parking lot of The Gator (a gay bar where people of like minds can hide at night as long as they stay in the closet outside the bar). The mother Emma Ayers (a radiant Berlinda Tolbert) and her ne’re-do-well remaining son Duane (David Raibon) are convinced the incident was a murder but the sheriff (Sam Jones) and his redneck deputies (with the exception of Deputy Conover - Jared Day) dismiss the lynching as justified because it was ’sexually motivated’ and gay men deserve such an end. Emma calls the victim’s childhood friend William Boyals (the fine Kent Faulcon), a succesful lawyer now in New York, to come and investigate. What William discovers upon his return to his hometown is a cast of characters that includes hateful white trash, closeted black gays afraid to defend each other, ‘law enforcement’ that is anything but honest, the strength and devotion of his ‘aunt Emma’, and the mother that disowned him when he came out of the closet to be a successsful gay man. The story proceeds to follow leads about the lynching and along the way there are other murders and lynchings that muddle the picture until the finale when the words of the Gator owner explain the happenings: ‘Nothing is ever like it appears to be’.
The film is moody, atmospheric, and there are some fine performances by Faulcon, Tolbert, Raibon, Jared Day and Jones. The problems include a script that opts for generalities and clichés and once again a music score and recording system that buries a lot of the dialogue. But it is refreshing to see a story that views the black gay life in the South from the vantage of a handsome, successful, gay black man. Though overly long at 115 minutes, STRANGE FRUIT is still a film of interest for the chances it takes. Grady Harp, September 06
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Tags: american south, black men, family, gay, gay dvd, hate crime, homophobia, murder