Hi, Mom! (1970) is a dark comedy by Brian De Palma, and is one of Robert De Niro's first movies. It's about a fledgeling "adult filmmaker" who has an idea to post cameras at his window and video tape his neighbors, a la Hitchcock's Rear Window. Brian De Palma Brian De Palma (born September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film director. ... Robert De Niro in the 1978 film The Deer Hunter Robert De Niro, Jr. ... Hitchcock can refer to: People Alfred Hitchcock, the film director. ... Rear Window (1954) is a motion picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on Cornell Woolrichs short story It Had to Be Murder (1942). ...

Be Black, Baby

Its most memorable sequence is one where a black radical group invite a group of WASPs to feel what it's like to be black, in a sequence called "Be Black, Baby". It is both a satire and an example of the environmental theater and cinema verite movements. Shot in the style of a documentary film, it features a theater group of African American actors interviewing caucasians on the streets of New York City, asking them if the whites know what it is like to be black in America. Cin ma V is the first album by an alternative rock group Dramarama, released in November 1985. ... Documentary film is a broad category of cinematic expression united by the intent to remain factual or non-fictional. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ...

Later, a group of theater patrons attend a performance by the troupe, wherein soul food is served. The white audience is then subjected to wearing shoe polish on their faces, while the African American actors sport whiteface and terrorize the people in blackface. Robert De Niro shows up as an actor playing an NYPD policeman, arresting members of the white audience under the pretense that they are black. The entire sequence plays with natural sound, and is "unrehearsed" and in "real time." De Palma's familiarity and collaboration with environmental theater informs the sequence and ratchets up the emotional impact of those who view it, simultaneously engaging their personal responses to racism and commenting on the deceptive and manipulative power of cinema. "If truth itself is plastic," the sequence asks, "then filmed truth is deeply-flawed." Soul food is an ethnic cuisine, food traditionally eaten by African Americans of the Southern United States. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Robert De Niro in the 1978 film The Deer Hunter Robert De Niro, Jr. ... The New York City Police Department (NYPD) , the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ... A black man drinks out of a water fountain designated for black people in 1939 at a streetcar terminal. ... Cin ma V is the first album by an alternative rock group Dramarama, released in November 1985. ...

The sequence concludes with a thoroughly battered and abused audience raving about the show, showering praise on the black actors, crowing "Clive Barnes [New York Times theater critic] was right!" The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Be Black, Baby remains one of the most challenging and intriguing sequences from its era, and its use of an audience's willingness to become emotional accomplices sheds light on De Palma's subsequent career. Be Black, Baby is an extended bland-and-white sequence directed by Brian De Palma in his film Hi, Mom! ... Brian De Palma Brian De Palma (born September 11, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American film director. ...

External link

• Hi, Mom! at the Internet Movie Database