OCTOBER 6, 1964
THE TWIG
PAGES
Sugar Cane Alley! Fantastic!
[Contlnusd frwn Page 4]
amount of the scholarship offered for
Jose's schooling is paltry compared to the
sum that Ma Tine must raise to send him
on. WorWng to raise the balance of his tui
tion becomes the challenge that mentualiy
costs her her life. An old woman to begin
with, she assume that responsibility In
order to save Jose from the fate of so many
of their people and out of the love ^
bears for this renrail^^e chitd.
In school, Jose eams the respect of
his teachers, while, like any young boy,
forming close frlerKlshlps with oth^ stu
dents and participating In his own share of
school-boy pranks. He Is ambitious in the
best sense of the word by gleaning all that
he can from his education, arwl he is
generous with his knowledge as he. In
tum, teaches another friend, a young boat
captain, how to read and write. Patey has
created In Jose a cwwincing character who
Is acharming mixture of child and adult as
Is typical of any adolescent. Jose blends
well into the adult world wound him, yet
he Is stilt very much a part of the children
of his Grillage.
Sugar Cane Alley contains all of the
elements of good drama: plot, cohesive
ness, humor, suspense, and pathos, it
contains, as well, a sensitivity to ttte
human condition that has al lowed one race
to eKploit another In the name of civiliza
tion and economics. Ms. Patey crftid^
the exploitation of her people and dispels
ttw m^h of tfw legitlrhKy of such exploi
tation without resorting to rancorous
accusations against the plantation owners
of her island and whites everywf>ers. She
uses this stoiy to illustrate her message:
people are people. The values, feelings,
rslatlonships, hopes «)d desires they
experier>ce are universal in scope, while
personal in expression. Unlike the tictet-
seller In the film wtw cannot bring herself
to Integrate her black identity with her
-white aspirations, Palcy makes a con
vincing argument in ther person of Jose
that the differences i^etween blacks and
whites lie not so much in cc^or but in per
spective. Jose eventually moves out of
Black Shack Alley, but he Is nrt ashamed
to take Black Shack Alley vrith him.
By the time this review appears In
Sugar Cane Atley may have finished
its run at the Carolina. It was so populv In
Durttam that we hope a Raleigh theater wl II
be Interested in showing it.
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Answer the questions on
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and be the first to tum In the
correct answers to 113 Heilman.
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4. When was Comhuskin’ started?
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NCSU Center Stage
Critics’ series
THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH
THE ACTING COMPANY
SUNDAY. OCTOBER 7, 1964
CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1965, 8:00
P.M.
TORCH SONG TRILOGY
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 196S, 7:30
PM.
C^EMONIES IN DARK OLD MEN
THE NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY
SATURDAY, APRIL 20,1965, 6:00 PM
FOR MORE INFO: 737-3104
Sugar Cane Alley:
A disappointment
[Continued from Page 4\
part, he-she is definitely rewarded.
Throughout the film, Jose’s grandmother
is presented as his savior; we perceive her
as Christlike. It seems only fitting that
Jose prepares her for burial fciy washing her
feet, thus bringing the audience closer to
the image of the grandmother as a
messlah.
The second thieme, as previously
noted. Is the dominant white culture.
Here, I Vias moved...right into a fit of
anger. Throughout the remainder of the
film, I had an unfair and biased picture'of
the white race shoved down my throat.
During the last scenes of the film, whites
ae portrayed as cheating, Inhumane, and
selfish creatures. I bit my tip when It
ocurred to me that every member of the
black race stKwn in the film was striving
to adiieve what the white race was said to
already possess: money, power, and
social position. One character, a black
boarding house clerk, says that she's
ashamed of her race and, furthermore,
considers herself to be white. Irony at its
best, I suppose?
tn spite of Its flaws, Sugar Cane Alley
suggests a moral for people of all
nationalities and races: whatever we
become or achieve in life, we are nwer
able to erase the lines of our heritage. At
some point In time, we must dl retum to
our homeland, at least in spirit. If ndt
txxly. Jose’s grandmother returns to the
vllls^ to await her death. Jos^s elderly
friend, wt)o is often his spiritual guide,
exemplifies this best by sa^ng tiiat when
he di^, he will at last be able to retum to
his Africa
I left the Carolina theater feeling
cheated, not only of my money, but of my
time as well, it Is my opinion that Sugar
Cane Alley is not the film to see if one
vents to experience a weli-wrttten script.
The actors must, however, be given credit
having made the most of what they were
given.
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Coagmts
CprnhuSkJn'
rmfice.
It'-OO-U'SO
ACROSS
1 Danger
6 Part of step
'11 Mock
12 Wears away
14 Preposition
15 Unadorned
17 Rt>er plant
18 Perform
20 Go in
22 Your*gster
23 Unit Of Italian
currency
25 Drain
27 Frenoti .
pronoun
28 Strikes
30 Swiftly
32 Country of
Asia
34 Tardy
35 Train of
attendants
36 Bread
ingredient
41 Man’s
nickname
42 Sweettieert:
arch.
44 Wild plum
45 Plunge
47 Yellowish
organic
substance
49 Transgress
50 Mine
entrance
52 Nerve
networks
54 Army officer:
abbr.
55 Pan of eye
57 Habituates
59 Shoulder
covering
60 Scraped
together
DOWN
1 Writing
Implement
2 Teutonic
deity
3 Tear
4 Unemployed
5 In^nes
6 Restoration
7 Negative
prefix
8 Soak up
9 Redact
10 Sell to
consumer
11 Watch faces
13 Qioomlly
16 Roman road
19 Character
istic
21 Rmunerate
24 A month
26 Ceremonies
29 More rational
31 Transactions
33 Denoting
number
35 Detecting
device
CROSS
WORD
PUZZLE
FROM COLLEGE
PRESS SERVICE
36 Slurs
37 Comfort
39 Dirtied
40 Temporary
shelters
43 Potassium
nitrate
46 Substance
46 One of
Columbus’s
ships
51 Aunt in
Madrid
S3 Diving bird
56 Compass
point
58 Note of
scale