Although the authors describe The Black Sea as a non-political film, the film centers on a Black man from Brooklyn who finds himself in a remote town in Bulgaria where the residents are quite different from him. Despite the absence of people he is used to in his life, the film shows that connections can be created by people who look different from each other. This scene paints the film in a positive light and is a brief insight into what lies underneath the surface.
Directors of the film, Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden, have touched on many topics with this film. Some of the social issues that make this film relevant, even with the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, are immigration and racism. The Wolfpack, Crystal’s previous work, also covers similar themes. With this particular piece though, Moselle and B. Harden managed to elevate their game.
The person with a newfound perspective is Khalid: a once lyricized barista, now back in the Black Sea after an unplanned encounter with the revolution back home in America. “It’s funny. My dreams in America which I had never conquered were,” he grins which flourishes a sense found lost optimally within his optimistic demeanor. Little does he realize that America assumed the ashes of his rage, “The audacity of America.” Khalid harks back to the kaftan wearing cultural cringe. Chichikova is Khalid’s partner in earnest and the duo opens up a cafe together during the interview, Khalid mentioned people made surveillances true “I was trying to make a shop but most of the dwellers that possess shops, coffeehouses: They are foreigners.” All that talk was symbolic and Khalid travelled through miles of fluffy contrast to see the real food “This.”
This also sheds light on the perspective of prospects that America upholds, a perspective or a prophecy for many millions who practice thence of Kalidi incorporated racism, Khalidi muses the sheer audacity in his blunt statements, that there was discrimination not only because of his melanated skin tone or coarse hair but also by the rage he screams, but who isn’t Khalidi sometimes succumbs to his distractions. There was a reason America has worked on branding so cruelly slightly differentiating each neighborhood to midnight and the local, each aspect considered by Khalidi’s family qualifying to be a service would be collapsing “The audacity of cringy America.” during the entire interview Khalidi waves what seems to be part of incorporations.
More distance from the dominating white pastel texture would one thin of American sidewalks, Khalidi would be appalled because a tone true to his aka brown low Fahrenheit ballooned where there is a yearning silent prayer for every core of kalidi father of offended dreams and body has outcasted every neuron back.
That’s the kind of thing he’s searching for, and so the film opens with an ailing Bulgarian woman who goes to consult a psychic who tells her she could only be cured if a black man touches her. “Where do I need to go to find a black man?” the woman inquires. “Facebook,” the woman’s all-wise attendant responds.
Thinking that he will just have to touch this lady and in return earn a fortune, Khalid comes from America to this woman only to find that she has died and already nobody has any plans on paying him which means he has no money to pay for his way back. But, when his passport is dashed, it means that he is even more permanently seized, a misfit in a misinformed world where people either abuse him or regard him as a wonder.
Khalid is more than aptly equipped to handle this scenario. His Brooklyn accent is thicker than the matcha he eventually prepares in his café. In an incredibly charismatic motion-picture acting debut, Harden, as Khalid, is charming, and gregarious and wears his heart on his sleeve. Within a day or two, he is back in the streets, meeting and hugging people that to him, seem like long-time acquaintances. “Do you know the whole town already?”Ina asks, flabbergasted at how quickly Khalid managed to win people over, at times thanks to his Bulgarian admirers of Khalid’s favored rap musicians. “My man, you know DMX?” Khalid yells to a man wearing a DMX shirt before asking how he can get a job.
If Harden were not such a clear character, The Black Sea would not portray itself as smoothly as it does. The bulging presence is captivating and unpredictable which is precisely the reason he manages to single-handedly carry the success of the film on his shoulders. It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration for one push to send him tumbling. And one might do the same because the movie is a documentary that lacks a written script of any form.
While some scenes feature actors such as Harden and Chichikov, scenes are often made up of random Bulgarian people who become part of the scene by the structural tension of Moselle and Harden, who pick them on the streets. This method is right in Moselle’s strong suit, in scripted portrayals like Betty or the film that inspired the series, Skate Kitchen, she has been seen to have a knack for guerilla productions and vision that seeks and finds events that take place naturally – because they sure are taken that way. Moselle is cast to possess a sense of adventure that is quite appealing to cope with.
The audience can be at ease as the director and cast make light of attempting to provide any context, with the camera almost seeming to grab the viewer’s throat as it snapshots Georgi (Stoyo Mirkov) a tyrant who hires Khalid for small meals akin to what iddo. A turn in sequence shows the director promoting the English accents of Khalid and Ina yet a mockery at the same time when Ina dances on the table while Khalid sways the room’s joy with the beats of ‘Doin’ It’. As the room is filled with cries of Khalid shouting “Hit the Road, Jack” and backing him the sense of joy in the environment is palpable as nobody seems to carry the feeling of shame after the due outburst and it all adds up as ina khadi and merry Pasha seem to interview Khalid at the end. ‘Go Brooklyn, go Brooklyn’ is an appealing phrase that Khalid uses which himself had us tongue-tied, this goes to show the depth of diversity all these characters have on team goat never fails to deliver in showcasing the cultural disruption that does indeed exist.
Cosmi and Khalid have built this feeling of admiration for the black sea despite the dread it brings whenever they look out into its sites. It is this same sense of admiration that Khalid feels in this ‘film’ every time and perhaps, everyone should consider this feeling while going through tough times: when you have someone you love with you, brace for it as you go through the waves, and do all you can to keep your head above the water.
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