A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN

US, 2021, 131 minutes, Colour.

Michael B.Jordan, Chante Adams, Jalon Christian, Robert Wisdom, Susan Pourfar.

Directed by Denzel Washington.

We realise a Journal for Jordan will have some humanity in its themes when we see that it has been directed by Denzel Washington (one of the four films he has directed). It is based on a true story, the actual journal written by Charles Monroe King for his son, Jordan, and the bestselling memoir by Dana Canedy, King’s partner and the mother of Jordan.

It is very much a piece of Americana. It will appeal to American audiences, especially with its feeling, its sentiment, American wearing of heart on sleeve. Cultures who are more restrained in their expression of feeling may sometimes find it too much. But, it has strong leads with Michael B.Jordan as Charles and Chante Adams as Dana.

This story enables audiences to reflect on American experience in the 1990s to the 2010s. While it opens in 2008, focusing on Dana a top journalist with the New York Times, frustrated by manoeuvres by her bosses, a very determined woman, the screenplay goes back to the 1990s as well as forward as far as far as 2018. Which means audience alert to what period is being dramatised.

Dana, in 1998, already a journalist and successful, has a meal with her parents, her former philandering father now devoutly religious, bonding with her mother and siblings. She is also introduced to Charles King who has served under her father and trained in the military by him. He is in the process of divorce, and has a daughter.

So, on the one hand, this is a story of love and romance, he away on military service, she at work with her writing, much of the drama portrayed by emotional phone calls. The attraction grows greater. As expected, there are ups and downs, he generally very considerate, she sometimes in emotional turmoil. Ultimately, they agree to have a child, but do not marry.

On the other hand, this is a reminder of the politics of the period, the wars in the Middle East at the beginning of the 90s, Charles King and his service, 9/11 and the consequent war on terror, a greater emphasis on the invasion of Iraq where Charles serves (and, later, the young Jordan asking his mother whether the invasion of Iraq was the right thing or not). And there are scenes of active service, ambushes and attacks in Iraq.

As Jordan grows up, he is tormented at school because of his lighter skin colour, continuing elements of racial prejudice, and his longing to know something more about his father. And, finally, his mother gives him the journal to read, Jordan persuading her that they should visit his burial place, and the whole family and dangers journalist friends all coming to the ceremony, Jordan reading from his father’s Journal, each visitor touching the headstone.

(There is an explanation at the end of the film that this sequence is dramatised, highlighting Arlington in the rows and rows, and rows, of headstones, whereas the real Charles King was buried at a cemetery in Ohio.)

1. A piece of Americana? From the 90s, wars in the Middle East, 9/11, invasion of Iraq? Race issues? Family issues?
2. The title, the screenplay based on Charles Monroe King’s journal for his son? Dana Canedy’s memoir? The bestseller and popular in the US? The focus on the son? The bequest by the father?
3. The variety of time settings, the opening in 2008, establishing Dana’s career, persistence, journalist at the New York Times? Time moving back 10 years, the initial encounters with Charles? The passing of the years, 9/11, Iraq, his service, his leave, his death and funeral? And the intersection of the future years, especially 2018, Jordan at 15?
4. The emotion of the film? Sentiment? Heart on sleeve? For American sensibilities? For more stiff upper lip, stiff-heart sensitivities? Direction by Denzel Washington?
5. The portrait of Dana, harsh upbringing, disappointment with her philandering father, devotion to her mother, her sisters? At home, meals, the father saying grace? The children getting high? Her work as a journalist, living in New York, the New York Times? Pursuing the case, the editor assigning another journalist, the determination?
6. The meeting with Charles King, his personality, manner, military training, indebted to Dana’s father? His divorce, love for his daughter, custody issues? With the children, at the barbecue, his respect for her family? His giving her the lift, phone calls? So much of the screenplay using phone calls between them? His painting and sketches? His eventually coming to New York, accommodation, the apartment with Dana, the sites, going to see the impressionist paintings? The growing bond between them? His military life? His proposal on the firing range? Growing happiness? The invasion of Iraq, his being deployed, the scenes in Iraq, the missions, his not being able to come for the birth, coming back and seeing Dana and his son? Her suggestion that he wrote the journal? The final episode, the tanks, the explosions, his being shot, his death?
7. Dana, growing love for Charles, but not wanting to follow him around as a military wife, going to Akron and upset at his not phoning, his sense of duty, his apology? The issue of having a child? Her pregnancy? Anxiety, wanting Charles to be at the birth, unable to come, her reliance on her friends from the New York Times, the devotion, at the birth? Mother and child? The scenes with her son, his growing up?
8. 2018, Jordan and his age, at school, fights, the issue of his white appearance, the racist taunts? The anti-military taunts? His mother giving him the journal, his reading it, the effect? His wanting to see his father’s grave? The plane trip and the storm, his reading? The family gathering, at the grave, his reading from the journal, everybody touching the headstone? Jordan’s tribute to his mother, his father urging him to love, to choose his family?
9. The use of Arlington Cemetery instead of the actual Ohio Cemetery to make the point about the many dead, the visuals of the rows of headstones?
10. The film capturing the atmosphere of the period, the changes from the Clinton era, through the Bush era, to the Obama era? And questioning of the validity of the invasion of Iraq?