Director: John Ridley
Writer: John Ridley
Stars: Regina King, Terrence Howard, Lance Reddick
Synopsis: A reformed criminal tries to live an honest life, when his past catches up with him and he his forced to do whatever it takes to protect his family.
“What do you want me to tell them? Fight hard but not too hard?” — Shirley Chisholm
John Ridley’s Shirley belongs very much to the Colman Domingo starring Rustin biopic, in the sense that it concentrates mostly on one era of the subject’s life. Fill in the blanks with other characters giving exposition or the protagonist making statements which come directly from their speeches and writing. Find an unassailable and powerful lead and enough decent supporting players and you have a film about a mostly forgotten pioneer in the American political arena. In this case it is Congresswomen Shirley Chisholm (Regina King) who wanted to give politics back to the people. To be a catalyst for change. To give voice to the disenfranchised across America while Vietnam was still raging, there was extensive violence across America, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had just been shot, and the rise of second wave feminism and campus activism was in full swing.
The film gives you the statistics. The number of women and Black people working in congress when schoolteacher Shirley St. Hill Chisholm was elected in 1968. The number of representatives before Shirley who were both black and a woman? Zero. Chisholm represented New York’s 12th congressional district centered mostly in Brooklyn’s Bedford–Stuyvesant area. A vibrant but often troubled melting pot of Black Americans, “Chicanos,” and working-class people and immigrants. Shirley, herself a Brooklyn resident and Barbadian American, was a longtime activist in her community before seeking any official office.
The familiar beats play out. Shirley is photographed on the steps as part of the 91st congress. She is the only woman in the picture. Once she steps inside the hallowed halls belonging almost entirely to men or the occasional White woman, she is reminded of her “place” by a man who can’t believe she makes the same salary as she does. After shutting him down, she meets with her longtime friend and congressman, Ron Dellums (Dorian Missick) who tells her what her portfolio is. She’s not having it and goes straight up to the Speaker of the House and tells him exactly what she wants.
At home she speaks with her husband Conrad (Michael Cherrie), formerly a private investigator and industrial compliance officer. He listens to her frustration and does his best to assuage her. “It’s your first term. Wait and I’m sure you’ll do great things. Just give it time.” Shirley’s retort is, “You want to give Richard Nixon time?” Conrad ensures her, “You’ll find a way to fit in.”
Fitting in is not on Shirley’s agenda. However, she’s aware that to fight the system she must be a part of it. She believes in democracy and the Democratic Party for their ability to enact meaningful change. She’s just aware that without people like her all the promises in the world mean little. She is there to hold people in power to account.
A small jump in time and Shirley has been working in congress for three years. She’s been motivating change and staying true to her word. One such word is that she would put her name on the Presidential ticket if a certain amount of money was raised in Florida. Not only was it raised, but it was also double the amount expected. Shirley Chisholm, along with her advisor Wesley McDonald “Mac” Holder (Lance Reddick), her long-time friend Arthur Hardwick (Terrence Howard), and a former intern now Cornell law student Robert Gottlieb (Lucas Hedges) are going to self-fund a bid which could ruin her financially and anyone who invests in her. It is a massive risk, especially when the campaign will be challenging more popular Democrats and fighting on multiple fronts including sexism and racism. Proudly Caribbean-American Shirley, who still speaks with a Bajan patois is one of the most unlikely candidates in United States political history.
Stanley Townsend (Brian Stokes Mitchell) the man brought on to manage her campaign says Shirley is very “of the moment.” With the Black power movement and civil rights being integrated with youth culture, anti-war sentiment, and feminism, Shirley just might win some hearts and minds with her “Unbossed and Unbothered” campaign.
One of the hearts she does reach is Barbara Lee (Christina Jackson). A single mother and University student who believes voting is a bourgeoise construct unhelpful to true revolution. Barbara is already tired of having to constantly fight just to put food on the table for herself and her child. Shirley laughs and tells her, “Little girl, if you don’t vote you don’t have a say. If you are yelling from the sidelines that is where you’ll stay. Outside.”
Shirley charts Shirley as she makes her own heartfelt decisions. Her quiet nemesis is Civil Rights activist and “favorite son” campaigner Walter Fauntroy (André Holland). Her loud one is Alabama segregationist politician George Wallace (W. Earl Brown). Perhaps her true nemesis is her inability to properly play the game. Yet that inability is also a strength. Chisholm refuses to admit that going against well considered advice is sometimes unhelpful. She refuses to say anything she doesn’t mean, even if it sets her back.
When the issue of school district busing comes up, Chisholm says she doesn’t agree with it because it doesn’t fix educational inequalities for Black and poor children. Building better schools and creating infrastructure does. When she is asked about the Black Panthers, she says she regrets their existence but understands why they are needed. When she is asked about abortion, she endorses Family Planning but attempts to give nuance to the conversation. Nuance is not what the media wants, and it makes her an easy target for her opponents.
Eventually, the cracks in her marriage start to widen. Conrad, who in nineteen years of being with Shirley, finds himself so in her shadow he’s forgotten what it’s like to be visible. She is chastised by her sister Muriel (played by Regina King’s actual sister Reina King) for making her life and the life of her mother difficult as they have to put up with the gossip and dislike of Shirley within the more conservative Baptist sections of the Brooklyn community.
People walk out on Shirley. They steal from her. They give up on her campaign and the strategies she employs. She’s fighting the good fight but often in a manner which causes friction and frustration amongst her supporters, and outright murderous hatred from her detractors. There was more than one attempt on her life.
Shirley meets Diahann Carroll (played with uncanniness by Amirah Vann) who is quietly active as a supporter of the Black Panthers. Carroll arranges a secret face to face with Huey P. Newton (Brad James). “I’m putting thunder and lightning together,” says Diahann. Shirley is both but she is not a convicted murderer like Newton. When questioned by Newton why a woman who is “just a schoolteacher” thinks she has the right to speak for Black people she reminds him that “Harriet was just a slave, and Rosa was just a domestic,” and asks him what his job is. She gets the endorsement.
Even with the ability for people of the age of eighteen to vote for the first time in a Presidential election, and even with Shirley’s rallying and inspirational cries, almost everyone but Shirley accepts she is running a campaign she can’t win. However, just in the fighting she is changing laws with the FCC, (thanks to a lawsuit she has Robert Gottlieb file because television stations would not let her debate). She’s making progress with the ERA. A hospital visit to George Wallace after he is shot means that in the future the racist politician turned judge gives her support on a major bill. The hospital scene itself is a little too fanciful to be particularly convincing.
One might not understand how voting colleges work, or how getting the support of delegates is essential. American politics can often be opaque even for Americans. What is easy to understand is how formidable Shirley Chisholm is. At one stage she says to Arthur, “I’m not naïve.” He points out, “You aren’t realistic either.” She is the dreamer she is accused of being by people she trusted, but she is not the fool. She is practical, tactical, but driven by her oftentimes conflicting instincts. When she is asked why she keeps going she responds that she doesn’t know how to stop.
“Men are so used to being in control, that equality to them feels like chaos.” Shirley says to Diahann. She also says in different ways to Conrad, Muriel, Arthur, and Mac “I don’t think I’m special. I’m just how I am, and I don’t know any other way to be. I’m sorry.”
Shirley feels she is beyond making Conrad feel inadequate, but she also doesn’t treat him as well as she should. Her husband she says is “200 pounds of patience,” he exists only to watch her. If Shirley were a man in the period, the question wouldn’t arise as to her domestic life and gender politics. Yet, she also won’t bend for Barbara and almost has her leaving politics out of disillusionment. She was treated differently to the other St. Hill sisters. Her Papa recognized her genius and encouraged her while letting the other three languish. It wasn’t her fault that he showed her favoritism, but it also didn’t hurt her the way it did Muriel and her mother.
Putting a groundbreaking figure like Shirley Chisholm back on the map is a worthy endeavor. The direction is sometimes flavorless, although rich in period detail. The script is written specifically to highlight all of Chisholm’s best inspirational speeches: she gives them in diners, she gives them while eating McDonalds, she gives them in almost every interaction she has. Because it is Regina King telling people “Don’t be humble – false humility is a kind of arrogance,” one can almost forgive some of the contrivances.
Regina King is the reason Shirley manages to get across the line and hold power. King expertly portrays a woman who doesn’t know what the word “No” means, who is complex, and not always right. A woman who demands loyalty and respect but is surprised by being truly loved.
Shirley is also sustained by stand out performances from the late Lance Reddick with his stately intelligence and humor. André Holland as Fauntroy – bringing with him both the charisma and necessary manipulation of a seasoned political animal. Christina Jackson is perfect as the young Barbara Lee who later becomes a major political force (the real Barbara Lee appears at the end of the film).
In Shirley, there is one thing of which the audience can be sure; Regina King is going to elevate a moderately rote and intermittently contrived biopic by delivering emotional and empowering screen magic.
