"Brad's status (2017)": A light comedy movie with universal themes, a Woody Allen twist and a racist teachable moment

By JAIME KARDONTCHIK
No. I will not tell you the plot here.
The universal themes: An upper middle-class parent has a mid-life crisis. He looks around himself, thinks that the grass is greener at his neighbors and laments his situation. Takes his son to school and does all what parents usually do to embarrass their teenage children.
The Woody Allen twist: He confides his poor state of affairs to a young lady he has just casually met in an upper-class bar and has sexual fantasies with her.
The racist teachable moment: The lady, a freshman or sophomore at an Ivy League university, listens to his laments and then explodes with a "You, white-man thinking only about you when the world is burning and millions of people are starving." The conversation is over and the poor old man is left alone.
Of course, the young lady is neither white nor man. Not even black. It does not cross her mind that she is enjoying the good things of life even better than the poor character she has just insulted. The guy did not even make it to that Ivy League university: When he was young he had to content himself with attending a second-rate college. She is used to frequent luxurious bars with her friends and she is dressed tip-top. Where does all her money come from? The filmmaker does not sense this contradiction either.
It just feels good and is is socially acceptable to attack someone who is easily identifiable and difficult to defend: The white male. Meet the new "Jew". The attack makes one feel part of a greater purpose in life, a larger social movement.
Of course, who would dare defend the repugnant white-supremacists ...?
Or the money-grabber Rothschild's ...?


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