Netflix is creating some exceptional original movies. The Power of the Dog is the most noteworthy of its recent offerings, having won an Academy Award for Best Director (Jane Campion), but the Netflix movie of 2021 that has captured my interest is one called Passing.
It's an adaptation of Nella Larsen's 1929 novella of the same name. Larsen was an African-American author, who was part of the Harlem-Renaissance era. Passing is a story of two women Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, who were childhood friends, accidentally reunited years later. Irene has created a life for herself in the middle of Harlem as an African American; but Clare, with her light skin and features, has created an identity as a white person, ironically enough, married to a horrifically vile white man who is racist to the core.
The movie traces the trajectory of this new friendship, which ends with tragic finality. The movie version is visually stunning because of its amazing black and white cinematography, which seems to fully capture the essence of the Harlem of that era. The actors are first-rate and the story itself is compelling, especially the shocking ending which leaves the viewer uncertain as to what has happened and who is responsible for the tragedy--I had to watch the ending a second time, in an inconclusive effort to figure everything out. Passing also does justice to the novella's themes of how difficult it is for African-Americans to form normal "American" lives and the slippery notion of identity and how it is constructed and interpreted.
After watching the movie, I was inspired to purchase and read the novella, which is readily available as an inexpensive E-book. (I paid 99 cents on Apple Books for Larsen's complete short works, consisting of an additional novella and three short stories as well as Passing. Her other stories are worth reading as well.)
The movie is generally faithful to the novella, though are a few significant differences and points of emphasis. What is strikingly similar is how the final scene is handled in the literary version: there too, one remains uncertain as to what exactly happens in the concluding scene and who is responsible for the tragedy.
I found it fascinating to watch the movie and then read the book, but then again I once taught a course called Novel Into Film at Castle Well (Emerson College European Center) and I have a fairly significant interest in how films are adapted from texts and the decisions that directors make during this process. Bottom line: if you don't wish to take the time to read the literary version of Passing, I highly recommend that you at least view the film on Netflix, though I think you might enjoy doing both.
(Movie rating **** out of 5 possible stars)
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