Short Synopsis:
Mack Walker, a retired black used car salesman, must confront his belief in the American Dream when an oil pipeline company makes him an offer for his property. He struggles with an overwhelming sense of pressure to keep it a secret from his family while he tries to figure out his next steps as he turns further inward, shutting out those around him. His son and grandson pay him a visit and by the time the visit is over he’s pulled a gun out on his own son. He takes a walk to cool off and when he returns home, he has over forty missed calls on his phone. He finds out that his wife Charlene is in the hospital with significant brain trauma following a car accident. After a two week stay in the hospital, Charlene is ready to be discharged. As Mack is on his way to pick her up, he’s visited for a second time by a representative from the oil pipeline company. He must choose between taking care of his wife/family or fighting for his American Dream.
Director’s Statement:
Growing up in the South in a conservative black family brought with it some interesting experiences. I found that as I became an adult, the world that I thought I knew was different from the world that I was experiencing. This created a bit of cognitive dissonance that I had to learn how to overcome. As I’ve become a parent myself, I wrestled with how I should raise my kids. Being an American comes with its own burden once one learns the true history of this country. Coupled with the growing political divide I found between myself and my parents I wanted to write a film that expressed some of my frustrations with being Black in America and trying to make a life for oneself. Thus, was born ANGER NEVER DIES.
My objective with this film is to show how cruel the consequences can be when black people pursue what they think is the American Dream and how if one is blinded by that dream, it can become a nightmare for their family.
I love slow cinema because I feel it allows the audience to experience the story alongside the characters in the film and it also leaves room for the location or landscape to be used as a character. Visually this film will call upon the work of filmmakers like Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Mahamat Saleh Haroun.
I hope that ANGER NEVER DIES will force you to re-access if the American Dream is even a real thing everyone should be pursuing. My goal with this project is that it will provoke individuals to reexamine their perspective on the world. I hope you enjoy ANGER NEVER DIES.
