When Ben Kurtzman walks by the community pool he wonders about the sign "No Jews, dogs or coloreds" hanging on the gate. We don't have signs like that hanging in our pools today, but in the movie "Liberty Heights" (1999), we can still see them and the prejudice in 1954 Baltimore, which Associate Professor of Communication Studies Beth Messner said "could serve as a really important springboard for dialogs about racism."
Writer and director Barry Levinson ("Rain Man," "The Natural") uses his life growing up in Baltimore as a basis for many of his films, including "Liberty Heights," about two brothers exploring "the others," what their mother calls anyone not Jewish. Van (Adrien Brody) falls for a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) girl while Ben (Ben Foster) befriends a black classmate.
Because of the social climate in the mid-1950s, the brothers were expected to remain in their social group and Jewish neighborhood. While partying in WASP territory, Van's friend is beat up for being Jewish.
Today there is less open prejudice between races and religions, "but I think there is still quite a bit of racism in this country, but it has gone underground," Messner said. "You see it creeping out in what I call flashpoints, an incident that serves as a lightening rod for the racism that has been stuffed under the surface."
Messner is a Fellow at the Virginia Ball Center and is currently involved with several projects on social issues, one of which is a student-designed Web site on racism in film and music.
One of the most recent flashpoints in the Muncie community was the renaming of Broadway Avenue to Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Boulevard, which brought up racial and political tensions.
"Liberty Heights" is not only about the problems between races, but also generational differences, class distinctions and stepping outside of one's comfort zone. While the boys are able to explore new cultures, their parents and grandparents --who have trouble changing beliefs they have held for their entire lives -- are horrified by the relationships.
The showing of the film coincides with the recent Muncie Coming Together conference led by Dana Young which discussed ways of bringing Muncie residents with different backgrounds together for individual and community improvement, Messner said after attending the Saturday event.
She hopes students will attend the movie and think about social issues in the past and present.
"I think it provides us with a good moral tale about the importance of trying to overcome some of those boundaries that are established," Messner said. "They have to have the courage to break out of their comfort zone, but that's a scary thing to do."
University Film Series is showing "Liberty Heights" tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Pruis Hall. The running time is 127 minutes and the film is rated R. Admission is free.
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