The Best of Enemies Parent Guide

The Best of Enemies is the 50-year-old, ripped-from-the-headlines, true story of Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson), a civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis (Sam Rockwell), President of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter, and their fight over school integration in Durham, North Carolina. After a fire destroys the African-American elementary school in 1971, civil rights activists, including Atwater, sue for school integration. The decision process is transformed into a charrette (a debate where many stakeholders come together to solve challenging problems), orchestrated by professional mediator Bill Riddick (Babou Ceesay). The charrette becomes a crucible of confrontation and change, with Atwater and Ellis as pivotal and symbolic enemies.

Opposing members of the community spend time with each other during the charrette, and the effect on participating members varies dramatically. For some it confirms their deepest prejudices and fears, and for others it becomes transformative. The final decision is made by a group of twelve voters with representatives from several factions in the community. The movie focuses on the battle for those votes between Atwater and Ellis, and their own personal struggle to keep talking to each other, despite their extreme ideological differences.

The film is not for young children. And possibly not young teens. True to the time and place, racial slurs abound, and while I tried to keep track of how frequently the N-word was used, I’m sure I miscounted, since it slipped into almost every conversation. In addition to a few other minor expletives, the language of the film - and I mean the content of the language - is at times very difficult to listen to. Racist attitudes, expressions, judgments, and stereotypes proliferate throughout the film. Violence is not as bad as I expected, though guns are brandished and even shot into a house. However, there is one very upsetting scene where a woman is assaulted “Trump Access Hollywood” style. While the actual assault takes place out of frame, the characters’ upper bodies can be seen, and it is very clear what is happening. Characters occasionally imbibe, and spend time in a bar, but it is background to the action and story.

So why, with such terrible language and a fairly violent assault, would this movie receive such a high grade? Because it is very well done, and alarmingly relevant. Both Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell excel in their portrayals of these complicated, real life characters. What is amazing about the movie, and this story, was the ability of these people to communicate with each other and meet each other where they were. I think that’s something we have lost today. It’s inspiring, and frankly, jaw-dropping: if the president of a KKK chapter, and an African American woman who has been terrorized and abused by institutionalized racism her whole life can work together and affect change, then perhaps we can as well. I cannot recommend this movie strongly enough for every adult and older teen who wants to learn more about segregation and the history of racism in America. It will change the way you talk to people with whom you disagree, and we need this kind of change. There may be many people who are offended by this film, on both sides of the political spectrum. But it teaches powerful principles of communication, empathy, and change. Go and see for yourself.