Our Friend Martin is a direct-to-video 1999 children's education film about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Two friends travel through time, see Dr. King at some point during his life. It featured an all-star voice and was nominated for an Emmy award in 1999 for the Extraordinary Animation Program (For More Than One Hour Programming). It was also a final release under the name of CBS/Fox Video.
Video Our Friend, Martin
Plot
Miles (Robert Ri'chard) is a very american African boy who is a big fan of sports, especially the Hank Aaron baseball icon, but failed at school. His teacher, Mrs. Clark (Susan Sarandon) threatens Miles that he'll make it repeat grade 6 if the value does not increase. He and his class, including his friends, two Caucasian boys Randy (Lucas Black) and former bully Kyle (Zachary Leigh) and a Latino Maria girl (Jessica Garcia), visited the museum, dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. Randy and Miles roamed Martin's room, and were caught by museum curator Mrs. Peck (Whoopi Goldberg), who turned on the old clock. The boys hold the baseball gloves of Martin and both are transported back to 1941 and meet 12-year-old Martin (Theodore Borders) who plays with his friends Sam and Skip Dale (Adam Wylie), until their mother (Ashley Judd) arrives and rebukes son to integrate with "colored people". Martin explained to Miles and Randy that Mrs. Dale against blacks comes from the fact that he thinks of them as "different", but violence will only make things worse.
The boys then travel 3 years in time and meet a teenager Martin (Jaleel White) on a separate train. He explained to them that blacks and whites could not integrate and had to use separate bathrooms, restaurants and waiting rooms. They then had dinner with Martin's family and while he went for a round with his father (James Earl Jones), the boys traveled 11 years and met Martin (LeVar Burton), who is now in his 20s and works as a minister in church. He held a meeting about Montgomery Bus Boycott, departing after Rosa Parks, a black tailor refused to give up her seat on the bus and was imprisoned for it. As a result, no black adults or children will board the bus. At that time, Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), Martin's friend, told him that his house had been bombed. He races at home, where his wife Coretta Scott King and newborn daughter Yolanda have escaped unscathed.
Turner announced that in retaliation they would attack the perpetrators with bricks, guns, Molotov cocktails and knives, but Martin stopped him, reminding the Gandhi crowd peacefully standing on the ground to alienate the British colonies of India and Jesus teaching love to his enemies. Miles and Randy then traveled to the Birmingham riots of 1963 and watched firefighters and police squirt black protesters with a hose and release the German Shepherds on them. The children are then transported back to the museum and join their classes at school. The next day, Miles and Randy told Miss Clark about the events before Martin's work and then the class watching Martin's VHS recordings. After classes leave, Maria and Kyle decide to investigate for themselves how Miles and Randy got the information. When the children arrive at the museum, Mrs. Peck lets them stay but warns them that when someone messes up the past, this can affect the present.
Maria and Kyle follow the two boys and arrest them in Martin's room. The four children were then transported to March in the Washington Movement and met his 30-year-old Martin (Dexter Scott King) along with a young white woman, who they realized was a younger version of Mrs. Clark. When they returned, Miles discovered that Martin had been killed. The children returned to 1941 and brought 12-year-old Martin back to the present. When they return, only Miles and Martin are back together and the present is different. They found that the museum was now just a burning-out house. They also know Randy and Kyle are also racist and no longer befriend Miles or know him. The middle school was separated and named after Robert E. Lee, Miss Clark was badly treated by the principal and Maria worked as a maid and could not speak English. She and her mother (Angela Bassett) live in poverty because she is now working as a cleaning lady. The next day Miles could not understand what was going on but Martin knew because he left his own time, it created an alternative timeline where his civil rights work never took place. Miles realized his mistake and had to sacrifice his plan to save Martin. Miles said his tearful farewell but realized he still had Martin's watch and asked him to get out of his house. Martin returned to his time, where he was shot and killed at his hotel. This result is now back to normal and Miles reunited with Randy, Mary, and Kyle. Mrs. Peck knows about the time Miles traveled and told him that while they can not change the past as long as they remember Martin and what he strives for, he will always be with them. He receives A on his history test, enabling him to advance to grade 7. He and his friends then vow to continue Martin's work. At the end of the film, Mrs. Peck closed Martin's door as the credit rolled.
Maps Our Friend, Martin
Primary role
Miles Woodman - A cheerful and wise African-American baseball fan who has trouble at school. His teacher, Mrs. Clark, threatening to make it repeat grade 6 if he does not start raising the value for history.
Randy Smith - A 12-year-old Caucasian skater, speaking in a Dixie accent. Best friend Miles, friends, and colleagues in his adventure all the time. In the alternate timeline, he and Kyle were best friends and chose black kids like Miles.
Maria Ramirez (though on Mrs Clark's computer her last name is Alverez) - A very clever 10-year-old Hispanic girl (she said she missed two grades) is a little arrogant, but the first realizes that although they are different, he, Miles, Randy, and Kyle can all be friends. In the alternate timeline, he does not speak English and works as a maid, scrubbing the school floor. His main comment to himself and other Hispanic aides, saying that "their type" is quite lazy without being disturbed.
Kyle Langon (though on Mrs Clark's computer her last name is Lapaun) - A 13-year-old mischievous boy from this story, but later became a friend of Miles, Randy and Maria. He often wears a small shirt that confronts his navel, and is easily torn. In the alternative timeline, he is a racist bully for black kids and good friends with Randy. He got a "bad" attitude from his father. By accidentally taking one of his time travel adventures, he saw firsthand the effect of bigotry and decided to reverse the new leaf.
Cast
Production
While the film was released on VHS, and with distribution rights along with CBS/Fox Video (which in turn is also distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and CBS), the film is also distributed by DiC Entertainment. Andy Heyward, Michael Maliani, and Robby London took the position to produce the series, and made a deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment & CBS/Video Fox to distribute the series.
Soundtrack
Motown Records released the soundtrack of the film featuring "Is not No Mountain High Enough" cover by Debelah Morgan, which incorporates Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross versions.
See also
- African-American Civil Rights Movement in popular culture
External links
- Our Friends, Martin on IMDb
- Our Friends, Martin at AllMovie
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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