Posted: 03/08/2007

Black Snake Moan

(2007)

by Sawyer J. Lahr

Derived from a Blind Lemon Jefferson song written in 1927, Black Snake Moan, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow), is not about race. Hosting an equally balanced cast of working-class Tennessee blacks and whites, Brewer turns away from the more common whites-school-blacks narrative and reverses stereotypical racial roles, telling a story of hope.

Deeply religious Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) and nymphomaniac Rae (Christina Ricci) take center stage in what could easily be misperceived as a misogynistic master and servant relationship, until you see the movie.

Lazarus helps Rae come to terms with a sexually abusive father and physically restrains her from selling herself any more than she already has. A few times, Rae tempts Lazarus by submissively offering up her body like she has with others, but the grey-haired, gold-toothed man is reverent.

After nearly sleeping with the whole small-town population, Rae is beaten unconscious by a friend of her military-discharged boyfriend, Ronnie (Justin Timberlake), after leaving a drugged-out modern southern hoedown. Strewn on a back road, Rae is found and taken in by Lazarus, who feels he has a religious duty and calling to fix her of her destructive, whoring ways.

A metaphor of restraint occurs first with Ricci being enslaved by a 40-pound restrictive chain, attached by the other end to a radiator. The metaphor recurs later as an unthreatening piece of gold jewelry. This is a delicate chain, which Timberlake latches around Ricci’s minimal waist in a wedding dress. She later uses this as a way of remembering to restrain herself when experiencing post-traumatic stress.

A lot of violence factors into what, without the events of this story, might be a sleepily quiet and insignificant Tennessee town. However, it does seem that at least some of the plot could actually happen in such a setting. The violence takes both sexual and nonsexual forms, but it only adds to the raw flavor that recollects the tradition of blaxploitation films, though still appealing to a wider base of moviegoers.

Performances are impressive. The characters are lived and felt by the actors, even for newbie actor Timberlake, who is convincing and satisfying.

A heavy blues influence pervades the entire film, initiated before the first scene with an old clip of a blues singer who defines blues music and its emotional origins. These clips enter the film in order to guide our understanding of blues and its relationship with this film’s character struggles.

Even more, we see and hear blues music drive the narrative through a few instances in which Lazarus is singing and playing guitar as he broods with heartache and resentment over his wife’s affair and their recent, unsettling divorce.

The music is assumedly original and recorded with the actors’ own voices. Ricci serenades Lazarus and Ronnie’s weak stomach with “This Little Light of Mine,” which is both soothing and appropriately religious in its roots, as may be the biblical name Lazarus.

If someone else has said this about Black Snake Moan, it is true; this film is like nothing else you will ever see, and if you are interested in BDSM, the chains will be a refreshing aphrodisiac. In the spirit of an awards ceremony, Take a moment to think about why you go to the movies, and if you still don’t have a reason, go see this film.

Sawyer J. Lahr is a film reviewer living in Chicago.

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