Oscar-nominated 'I Am Not Your Negro' an urgent narrative of race in America

Somewhat deep into the searing and utterly necessary documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” director Raoul Peck overlays audio from a 1960 U.S. Government film “The Land We Love,” in which the narrator extols the virtues of America and the freedoms afforded all citizens, with images from the 1965 Watts Riots. The juxtaposition captures the essential American hypocrisy: Black people suffer while white people play.

Peck's restraint to save that gut punch for a moment when he's certain the audience can comprehend not just the images but the ideas behind it is a testament to the studied excellence of this Oscar-nominated film. It is not only a must see, but one that should be studied over many viewings.

“I Am Not Your Negro” is inspired and informed by “Remember This House,” an unfinished manuscript by James Baldwin in which he aspired to tell the story of America through the death of three friends — Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Baldwin had written only 30 pages before his own death in 1987.

Peck uses Baldwin's words (read by Samuel L. Jackson) from “Remember This House” and archival footage of various speeches and interviews to create an urgent narrative of race in America. Baldwin was writing and speaking about his time, but his ideas and truths transcend the specificity of the 1960s. It makes sense when Peck fast-forwards to images of Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin and Amir Brooks, or headlines about mass shootings.

Using Baldwin's words and ideas, Peck seamlessly connects segregation, civil rights and Black Lives Matter while also offering a radical and undeniable indictment of the way in which media can poison a populace, whether through the distractions of mindless reality television or the not-so-subtle othering of black people in films that made Baldwin feel “outside the system of reality.”

Some of the most powerful moments come from watching Baldwin himself — so eloquent and perceptive and misunderstood. His words, Jackson's reading and Peck's elegant and scorching composition will resonate for years to come.