class extra credit blog

The overall plot of Set It Off plays out like your typical story about getting out of the projects by turning to crime. But at the same time, it isn't. This movie has a meaning, a compulsion, a human desire for freedom usually not seen in other gangster/robbery films. In this movie there is true hope, and true redemption for at least one character; all the way to the tragic end.

As it examines the motivations that spur the friends into crime, Set It Off perhaps over-exaggerates the overwrought depictions of the abuses heaped upon the women by the injustices of the social system. In a rivetingly shot opening action sequence, Frankie the bank teller is unwittingly thrust into the middle of a bank-robbery crossfire. Because she recognizes the stick-up man from the 'hood, this girl from the projects, who we believe until now has advanced in the world by doing the right thing, is unjustly fired for her relation to the robber. Her unjust dismissal is what drives Frankie's desire for revenge.

All of the women have in someway been screwed with by the government system. Tisean abruptly loses custody of her baby after the child suffers an accident while at her workplace, and Stony sees her younger brother, whom she had hoped to send to college, fatally shot by ruthless cops in a case of mistaken identity. Cleo, a swaggering butch lesbian, has the fewest gripes with the system (whereas Stony wants to use her share of the heist money to get away from the projects, Cleo can't imagine any life away from the 'hood). Although thrills and excitement are Cleo's initial motivations, it is she who winds up being the group's hell-bent mouthpiece for sisterhood and defiance.
Queen Latifah brings an extraordinary presence to the proceedings of the film with her character, Cleo. It's more than just her no-fuss approach to the sexual orientation of her character. Latifah shows real skill in the way that she scowls and glares at her adversaries and the way that she delights in her friends' company and her new-found job skills. Latifah brings something new and startling to the traditional screen depiction of women, something that comes across as so completely indifferent to how she's perceived by any camera or viewer. I thought she played her role was flawlessly.

One gripe I had about the movie was with the character of Stony. She is constantly talking about how she doesn't feel free living in the projects. She instead feels like a caged animal that's being held back by the government. If she really wanted to be "free", she would have taken her chance with Keith, the banker. Keith offered Stony a life of freedom that she had never previously had access to. It is how the movie deals with their relationship that troubles me. If Stony was truly meant to feel free, she would have left her life of crime behind her, even if that includes distancing herself from her friends (who mostly seem to be nuisances). Stony would have gone to start a life with Keith, instead, she throws everything in her life away for one final bank heist.

The movie concludes with everyone being killed except Stony. Stony takes the money and runs off to Mexico to be "free". Somehow I don't feel that she is really free. My definition of freedom does include isolation from my home country and all of my friends dying. Perhaps the director, Gary Gray, could have done a better job interpreting the script, because I think he is sending mixed messages with the resolution of the film.