Voodoo Macbeth (Abebe, 2021)
When I first saw the promotional material for Voodoo Macbeth, I could not help but think of Me and Orson Welles, Richard Linklater’s emotionally complex treatment of Rober Kaplow’s novel.
That wasn’t a bad thing. There is enough material here for a totally different movie, and the association did get me to screen the new film. Linklater’s film is a fictional coming-of-age story that is really about a high-schooler caught up in the romance of the theater. Voodoo is a historical piece about Welles producing Macbeth in Harlem with a Black cast. But the longer into a movie that you keep thinking about another movie, the more that reaction suggests the new film is not working on its own terms.
The most obvious place to start is with the depiction of Welles himself, who comes across here as a bit of a naifish knave, a slightly less affable version of Shakespeare in Love‘s lovable idiot genius. I don’t know (or particularly care) how historically correct that treatment is. Perhaps Virginia Welles was the real genius of the relationship. I do know that playing it this way complicates the boy genius/ condescension toward the African-American cast in ways that undercut many of the positive arguments that might be made that white interest in black art is something more than just gimmickry or cultural appropriation.
It’s one thing to have Welles tell his cast that “there are protestors outside right now who want us to fail” as though they never before experienced racial backlash or racist fear. It’s quite another to have those actors not understand why parts of Shakespeare’s plays are in blank verse. Yes, Elizabethan English is hard, whether you didn’t go to Harvard or just didn’t go to Cornell College. And yes, those struggles have more to say about cultural literacy and opportunity than about acting skills or general intelligence. I just wish the film had a clearer point of view about its material. Was Welles a thin-skinned genius pulling and pushing mere mortals to greater heights? Or was he a wizard behind a curtain of reputation, living in perpetual fear of being found out a fraud, bereft of the talent needed to make his and our dreams a reality?
That said, the film did win awards at Dances With Films and The Harlem International Film Festival, so it is resonating with at least some audiences. I much preferred Linklater’s earlier film, but your preferences, as always, may be informed by different experiences and expectations.
Voodoo Macbeth is scheduled to release on streaming and DVD on January 17, 2023. Bonus footage includes actual footage of the 1936 stage production, so it may also be one of those rare instances where the extras justify the cost even if you don’t care for the film itself.
