With "Get Out" director Jordan Peele celebrated a sensational success in 2017. That's why everyone should have seen the clever mix of genres.
A black man who is with a white woman. In today's open-minded times, it's the most normal thing in the world – one might think. "Get Out" (Free TV premiere: November 9th, 10:55 pm, ZDF) by director Jordan Peele (41) takes on this topic and wraps the accompanying social criticism that has been going on since the "Black Lives Matter" – Movement is more topical than ever, cleverly given a new genre guise. In "Get Out", the "bad black man" becomes the hero of a haunting horror film who literally goes through hell while getting to know his snow-white in-laws.
This is what "Get Out" is about
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya, 31) couldn't be happier. As a photographer, he has an eye for the special moments in life, his career is going through the roof. And love also works: he is madly in love with his pretty girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams, 32). Only one thing worries him: how will his unsuspecting in-laws react to their daughter being with an African American? However, all his doubts quickly seem to vanish into thin air when he is greeted profusely by Rose's parents.
Both mother Missy (Catherine Keener, 61) and her father Dean (Bradley Whitford, 61) seem to have devoured Chris from the first second. But just as quickly the illusion of the country idyll disappears and newcomer Chris begins to ask himself and Rose uncomfortable questions: Why do the rich parents only have black servants? Why do they act like moronic psychopaths? And what's up with Rose's mother, who wants Chris to stop smoking at all costs by hypnosis? Within a very short time, all of his instincts were screaming in unison: "Get Out" – get out of here!
"Get Out" tackles everyday racism
"Just because you've been invited doesn't mean you're welcome". The main poster of "Get Out", which lined the streets at the cinema release in 2017, already revealed a lot about the film. And that although only the main character Chris is sitting screaming in an armchair in front of a strictly separated black and white background. It is precisely this dividing line between black and white that the film thematizes with partly over-clear visual language and statements by the protagonists in the approximately 105 minutes running time. And exposes the hypocrisy of many oh-so-liberal people.
The father of the family (Bradley Whitford) raves about President Obama (59), "the best president since Lincoln". A family friend later asserts how much he likes golf player Tiger Woods (44). Only gradually does the viewer learn what nightmarish intent is behind this fascination for African Americans. "Get Out" cleverly uses such clumsy attempts by rich, white men to show their supposed progressiveness and thus to really underline their everyday racism to spin the material for a nerve-wracking horror film.
Daniel Kaluuya is convincing all along the line
For some viewers, this literal black and white thinking of "Get Out" went too far. Every white person in the stripe looks like a figment of hell. That was "reversed racism", there were angry US viewers in some comments when it was released three years ago. Such accusations quickly lost their foundation.
"Get Out" obviously reverses the set pieces and roles that have been established in many films. The fact that "the whites" are portrayed as the villains is by no means a result of chance or latent racism. Rather, "Get Out" gives every offended viewer who is angry about the representation a resounding slap in the face and at the same time shouts: "THIS is how it feels to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin". For a horror film with a measly 4.5 million dollar budget, this is a statement that many multi-million drama couldn't get better at the (white) US man. The recent events in the United States show that this is unfortunately still necessary. And in this country too, there is still a lot of catching up to do in terms of everyday racism.
Main actor Daniel Kaluuya is responsible for the success of this message. Casting a film with actors who were completely unknown at the time can always be a risk, but also an opportunity. Both Kaluuya as the always lovable main character, through whose eyes the viewer can experience the dark side of the American suburban idyll (greetings from David Lynch's "Blue Velvet"), and Allison Williams as his girlfriend Rose took advantage of this opportunity and did self-promotion. Because, so much can be revealed, Rose is also not the person she claims to be – neither is the rest of her weird family.
Not a classic horror thriller
"Get Out" is primarily to be understood as a psychological horror. The splatter fan has to do without blood and guts for a long time, even the showdown does not shed the tomato juice in liters. Instead, "Get Out" even shows a comedic side in many moments when Chris gradually uncovered the dark machinations of his in-laws. Comedy often robs a horror film of its horror, but "Get Out" results in a coherent mix of genres that rightly won the Oscar in the category "Best Original Screenplay" in 2018.
Interesting genre mix
"Get Out" is one of the few horror films that wants to be more than a series of moments of shock. Instead, Jordan Peele cleverly combines the genre with social criticism on the one hand and humor on the other. The result is a mix with very American themes, to which, as the US election in 2020 at the latest has shown, the entire world must not turn a blind eye.