On the surface, Get Out has a lot going for it.
It’s a psychological thriller about a black photographer named Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) going to visit his white girlfriend Rose Armitage’s (Allison Williams) family in their remote home in the woods, a move Chris doesn’t realize is a mistake until it’s already too late.
As a completely new IP by first-time-director Jordan Peele (known for his writing and acting in Comedy Central’s Key and Peele), Get Out made a surprising 5 times its budget back in its opening weekend, a huge feat considering its place amongst the over-abundance of reboots, remakes, and sequels.
It features phenomenal performances by leads Kaluuya and Williams, with an honorable mention going to LilRel Howery for his role as the comedic relief no one knew they needed in a psychological thriller.
The sound design of the movie is also fantastic; building tension by highlighting certain words, changing tones to throw off the viewer and make them question what they just heard, and sometimes cutting out completely to hold both the characters in the movie and those watching it in an unsure suspension.
Under the surface, however, is the skillfully-crafted social commentary that Peele weaves throughout every scene, line of dialogue, and image on the screen and makes Get Out fit perfectly in the racially charged media environment of 2017.
The main point that Peele makes initially (by the second and third act this point is thrown out the window) is that Rose’s parents and their other white friends aren’t blatantly racist but rather “ignorantly racist” just because of the nature in which they speak to Chris. They’re liberal doctors who seem like the average Joe and come across as someone like your parents friends, someone from church, or just a passing face in the supermarket; not angry bigots that one might imagine when hearing the word “racism”.
Get Out makes the point that racism today isn’t always on the surface, but can reside in seemingly ordinary comments and statements that people of all races make towards black people without thinking about it.
“You know, I would have voted Obama on for a third term if I could” one character mentions to Chris after striking up an uninvited conversation about “loving black people”.
When Chris is asked if he likes MMA fighting and responds that he isn’t a fan because of the brutality of the sport, the other character notes on what a shame that is because of Chris’ ability to win thanks to his “genetic makeup”.
Most of us as college students have heard statements like these, and Get Out does an amazing job at making people of all races cringe at the idea of being told something like this, hearing this said to someone else, or, and god forbid this one, accidentally saying something like this to a friend, relative, or loved one of color.
As a white person I will never be able to come close to understanding what it is like to live life as a black person, but Get Out was written and directed in such a way that when I wasn’t on the edge of my seat thanks to its horror elements I was in an equal amount of discomfort in trying to imagine what Chris was going through. Definitely a must-see for fans of thrillers, movies that make you think, or anyone interested in seeing what a perfect blend of entertainment and social commentary looks like.
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