Stevie Stigall | Staff Writer
July 7, 2023
The movie Pariah, is a perfect lens which captures the experiences of a teenage African-American girl struggling with identity in a suffocating environment.
A pariah describes someone who is shunned by society. This title accurately fits the film as it follows Alike, or Lee, as she navigates the inability to express herself and sexuality in an unsafe environment. She is forced to live a double life, putting up a facade for her family and putting on a disguise for the rest of the world. Her life gets upturned as her true identity is to her family, ruffling their dynamic and revealing her parents’ true colors and lack of unconditional love.
Although Pariah’s run time is less than an hour and a half, the movie is filled with emotional and raw scenes. The movie makes the audience feel like a fly on the wall to a few days of a queer adolescent instead of a cinematic production and that’s my favorite part. There are some moments where I can empathize with Lee and there’s some moments where I envy or pity her. The movie’s ability to emotionally hook an audience is incredible and I would suggest it to anyone. It’s a beautiful film that represents plenty of voices that may have never felt heard before.
“Running is not a choice from breaking. Breaking is freeing, broken is freedom. I am not broken, I am free.” Alike writes this after she talks to her mom, hoping for absolution. The poem shows Alike’s vulnerability and process of healing. Instead of seeing conflict and “breaking” as something negative, she sees it as a way to grow and no longer be tethered down by her previous obstructions.
We have all been broken, but in reality we are all free.
