Boyz n the Hood

Rick, it's the Nineties. Can't afford to be afraid of our own people anymore, man.

1991

"One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime"

"Most will die at the hands of another Black male"

"Increase The Peace" is the closing message of John Singleton's powerful, intelligent and affecting call for calm in South Central Los Angeles. Often mistakenly presumed by those who haven't seen it to be a film that glamorises violence, Singleton's debut film takes us into South Central and holds us there by just shooting the story. No trickery or overtly moralistic posturing from the director (and writer), just an unpretentious look at life in a modern ghetto.

The story follows three black teenagers ...

John Singleton really isn't my thing. I mean, the movie came out in '91 but didn't get much exposure out in the country where I grew up until it was on HBO. However "Poetic Justice" DID and when I finally came around to watching "Boyz n the Hood" I had extremely low expectations.

I honestly thought it was going to be as absolutely pointless as "Poetic Justice" was.

And, yeah, I did kind of like "Higher Learning," which I also saw before this, but I still kind of feel that he was pointing the finger at white people and telling the viewers that we are all evil and the cause of all the problems in the world.

So I went in here thinking it was going to be a talented racist mess.

However, it wasn't. The fact is the film was absolutely...