Crooklyn

Crooklyn Dir. Spike Lee

Zelda Harris (Troy), Delroy Lindo (Woody), Alfre Woodard (Carolyn), Calton Williams (Clinton)

Universal Pictures, 1994.

Spike Lee’s 1994 film Crooklyn was mainly from a young girl named Troy’s point of view. Troy lived with her mom, dad, and her four brothers in a Brooklyn, NY. The mom (Carolyn) was a teacher, and the father (Woody) was an aspiring jazz musician. With the children’s parents being absent from home for a good portion each day, it was often up to them to occupy themselves. Mainly, the boys played with the boys, and that left Troy to find some girls in the neighborhood to play with. It came summertime, and that meant Troy’s mom would be teaching summer school a lot, and her dad was continuing his career. This left them to worry for Troy, and think she would get herself into trouble with all the time she had on her hands, and no adults to watch over her. She was sent to her aunts in a quiet town in Virginia, and here is where we found out what type of person Troy really was.

When Troy first found out that she was going to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousin she was very hesitant. She did not want her parents, and siblings to leave her. Over the course of just a few days, Troy grew very close to her cousin Viola; they did many things such as: ride bikes, play in the sprinkler, and run around in the yard. Troy also grew close to her aunt, and uncle. She had to adapt to a new life style. For example, her aunt took out her braids, and also gave her some new “white girl” clothes like a very ugly sundress. Carolyn (Troy’s mother) wrote to her, telling her how much she misses her and hopes she is doing well. This when I think Troy started to become homesick. Troy would go home after a few weeks, and she did not leave her aunt on a good note. She left after her aunt scolded her for suffocating, and killing her dog. Her uncle offered to take her to the airport, and send her back to New York. It was difficult for her to leave her cousin, who she became very close with over the course of a few weeks.

Troy returned home to some disheartening news. She found out that her mother was sick, and would be in the hospital for a few days. She immediately went to visit her when she returned home. This was a different scene from before, because Troy was more down to Earth. It seemed like Troy was at the point where she would put her family before everything now. She also was a bit more mature. Troy was devastated when she eventually found out that her mom had cancer, and later died.

This movie was alright. At first I did not think I was going to enjoy it, but in the end, it proved me wrong. I would recommend this film to anyone who loves a movie where the theme is family values. This was definitely one of them; whether it was Troy or her parents. Although they were quite rambunctious, Woody and Carolyn did a great job of shaping their kids to be very respectful. They were a family to believe that love is more important than anything. They did not have much fancy things, but they had food on the table, and roof over their head; that is all that mattered to them.