The Learning Tree

Kansas at the end of the twenties. Newt is fifteen, the child of a black family. He goes to school in the town, works in the fields and grows up. One day he witnesses a killing: a white man is killed and the man who did it is another black man from the town. The town blames someone else. Newt knows what he saw and has to decide whether to speak; speaking will break the balance of the place. Gordon Parks wrote, directed, produced and composed the music. The source is his own autobiographical novel. The film counts among the first productions in America financed by a major studio and directed by a black filmmaker. Parks was known first as a photographer; he worked for a magazine and made photographic work about poverty and discrimination in America. The film's visual language comes directly from that. The narrative is a story of growing up and gives the question of race without display; there is violence and the narrative builds no thesis. It was among the first films selected for the American national film registry. It was shot in Kansas, in the region where the author really grew up. Who it is for: viewers who follow the history of American cinema and social drama. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, some of the cast are inexperienced, and the narrative proceeds in episodes.