Film Review: MONOCROMATIC
by Karen Pecota

Karen Bryson, UK 2022

Bryson's twelve-minute and thirty-second directorial debut on a short film media platform, shares the impact racism has on the innocence of a six-year-old child. The impact is stellar, thought provoking, and heart wrenching. Her message suggests that humanity can be better served if we allow ourselves to view people as colorless.

In 1977, the area of Wood Green, London, England, was not favorable to residents other than a white population. Adults in the community were well-aware of racial discrimination and episodes of abuse, but to the children this behavior was foreign.

It becomes apparent that a happy, carefree six-year-old Black girl normally able to play carefree is confronted with white supremacists’ activity aimed to harm her and her family because of the color of their skin.

Upon this realization, while the little girl is sitting in church with her family, she earnestly asks God, "Why did you make me black?"