Released on Amazon Prime in October 2016
Plot
Melody is caught up in the Space Race, but her grandfather's concerned with things on Earth. Protesters marching for civil rights are being unjustly arrested and even attacked. Melody struggles to understand why police, who are supposed to protect everyone, are hurting peaceful protesters. Melody wonders about the Pledge of Allegiance her class recites--"with liberty and justice for all"--but is told to not "disturb the peace" and that "good things come to those who wait." Some white boys bully her at recess. Another black student says the bullying is too much and she wants to go to her neighborhood school (presumably she's bused to this one for diversity) where she won't be a pariah.
When visiting her mother at work (she sews dresses for a clothing store), Melody is accused of trying to steal a dress, while a white girl browsing just like Melody is left alone. Her mother nearly loses her job over it. Melody's mother and grandfather voice their anger in different ways: Melody's mother mourns privately because she wants Melody to not have to grow out of her childhood innocence yet and focus on how things can get better, while her grandfather says that's what people have been saying for generations.
Melody is discouraged by the discrimination. She has a bit of hope at school when a white girl, Trish, comes over to talk to her about Melody's drawings, and invites her over to play, even after two other white girls try to talk Trish out of it.
But two days later, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama is bombed. Yes, that bombing. Four young black girls are killed. At school the next day, Melody can't keep quiet. She can't say the Pledge while the country is divided. Her teacher sends her to the principal's office, and she's suspended for a week. Her grandfather is proud of Melody for standing up for civil rights.
Melody's mother is asked by their church to play piano in a concert honoring the girls killed in Alabama. Melody is terrified that someone will bomb their church too, and doesn't want her to perform. But she overcomes fear and agrees to help, even sewing an outfit for her mother to wear while she plays. When the day of the concert arrives, Melody is stunned to see that her class has come to see the concert as a field trip (this is during Melody's suspension). It seems her outburst got to her teacher, who organized the field trip. One of the boys who bullied Melody refuses to come, but Trish takes Melody's hand and leads the rest of the class into the church, where Melody's mother plays to an integrated crowd. Melody leads the mourners in song.
Misc
Filmed in Los Angeles, CA.
Melody wants to be an astronaut now, rather than her book focus on being a singer. My parents were born about the same time as Melody, and it's understandable the Space Race would be interesting to a child in the 1960s, but why change such a big part of Melody's personality?
Melody's father is dead here, unlike the books. Her siblings don't feature in the movie, either. Her family is also lower class, rather than middle class like the books.
Melody is left-handed in the movie.
Melody's grandfather says Melody's dad enlisted in a desegregated military. The books have him as a Tuskegee airman in World War II, and Executive Order 9981 was signed in 1948. I guess he was in the Korean War in this version instead. The picture Melody has of him shows him as a pilot. With Melody now being an only child rather than having older siblings, Korea makes more sense than World War II, age-wise. My dad is slightly older than Melody and his dad was in World War II, while my mom is slightly younger than Melody and her dad was in Korea (both my parents have older and younger siblings).
The church bombing places this movie in September of 1963.
Huh, Melody looks at a display of dolls, which are all white, seeing none like her. Something, something, American Girl dolls and diversity...
Ouch, watching this movie about civil unrest and police violence in 2020...
Cast
Melody Ellison - Marsai Martin
Frances Ellison - Idara Victor
Frank Ellison - Frankie Faison
Miss Abbot - Frances Fisher
Donald - Garret McQuaid
Lorraine - Dara Iruka
Trish - Lola Wayne Villa
Principal Davis - Matthew Foster
Sales Clerk - Briana Lane
Store Manager - Chuck McCollum
Mr. Schuler - Rocky McMurray
Neighborhood Girl - Daija Bickham
Neighborhood Girl - Skyelar Wesley
Mother in Store - Libby Ewing
Daughter in Store - Joelle Better
Mary Beth - Isabel Myers
Male Bystander - Joshua Wilkinson
Church Choir members - Errol Gillett, Caitlyn Lemle, Charles Elvin Lemle, Darene Annette McDuffey, Asani Myers, Marsha Joi Myers, Edward W. Robbins, and Rosa Ophelia Williams
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