took a while for me to settle into this one. at first i thought it was another student-tier film, because of how low budget a production it was; and because of all the voice-overs. eventually i realized that it has a pretty complex narrative structure; and that it undertakes to represent the main character’s psychological state, a fairly difficult task. like Bless Their Little Hearts, and unlike burnett’s films, this immediately lets us know exactly where we are (Los Angeles). the thematic focus is on economic inequality and the precariousness of black life subjected to constant violence by the police. Bless Their Little Hearts was mostly about economic inequality, gender, and family/relationship dynamics: as i recall there are only a few references in that film to the possibility of crime, and i can’t recall if there is any representation of the police. Bush Mama does revolve around a family, but it is more concerned with police violence (multiple shootings) and imprisonment. also, it is explicitly political in a way that woodberry’s film is not: there is a character who talks about demos, the BPP, malcolm X, persecution by the police, etc etc. the main character seems to wander around, trying to process her situation and the various messages she is receiving. the film seems to represent the coming-to-be of a political consciousness.
charles burnett listed as one of the DOPs. :)