Parents' Guide to

Rustin

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Strong performances, racial violence in civil rights biopic.

Movie PG-13 2023 106 minutes
Rustin Movie Poster: Close-up of Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • Rustin Movie: Rustin speaks in front of an enthusiastic crowd

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 1 parent review

doctora
doctora Parent of 7-year-old
February 1, 2024
age 13+

Colman Domingo delivers a powerful performance of an unsung organizer

The main reason for four stars? Well of course it is Colman Domingo...George C. Wolfe's direction has moments where it feels predictable and other times where it feels like a delicate and fragile story of a man feeling like the there is no space for him to be himself in this world. Domingo offers as much of a 360 degree depiction as he can of an unsung and under appreciated organizer that helped catapult a movement that we are still teaching to US elementary school kids. There are some flaws to the film that feel like it is begging for the gaze and acceptance of the cis-hetero public, but it is tempered with the framed human desire to want to feel supported and seen by your peers. Domingo sells it...all of it.
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What's the Story?

RUSTIN tells the story of how gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo) conceived of and planned the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. A decade earlier, Rustin had worked with Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen) on civil rights demonstrations -- until homophobic rumors forced Rustin out of the movement. But in 1963, Rustin, a Quaker and lifelong devotee of Gandhi's nonviolent resistance, feels compelled to stage the largest nonviolent protest in the United States in Washington, D.C. He joins forces with legendary activist/labor leader A. Philip Randolph (Glynn Turman) but is dismissed by Roy Wilkins (Chris Rock), the head of the NAACP. After friends convince him to visit the Kings in Georgia, Rustin reconnects with MLK and asks him to participate. With King on Rustin's side, the formerly hesitant NAACP and other civil rights groups get on board with the march.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
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Domingo's excellent performance elevates this biopic into a memorable and insightful drama. Director George C. Wolfe and screenwriters Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black argue that, because of his homosexuality and his commitment to socialism, Rustin never became a household name like Rosa Parks, John Lewis, or Medgar Evers. But the film makes it clear why he should be just as well known. At one point, Rustin says "the same day I was born Black, I was born homosexual," and he never tries very hard to hide his true self. As he plans the march's logistics, Rustin has an affair with Elias Taylor (Johnny Ramey), a married minister and activist who's fictional but a symbol for how, even in the 1950s and '60s, Rustin was fairly out. He also dated his White (and real) assistant/protégé Tom Kahn (Gus Halper). In one scene, Rustin shares another quippy one-liner to friend/confidant Ella Baker (Audra Thomas, fantastic in just a couple of scenes): "I am drawn to beauty -- White, Black, indeterminate. As long as they're passionate and smart."

Wolfe hasn't reinvented the biopic wheel with this film, but he and the writers don't shy away from showing that the civil rights movement was inhabited by humans. The men in charge of the movement disagreed, sniped at one another, were sexist, and played political games. Rock's Wilkins and Jeffrey Wright's smarmy Adam Clayton Powell are both portrayed as politically savvy and concerned that Rustin's private life will taint their efforts. Tobias A. Schliessler's cinematography captures moments both heartbreaking (the opening sequence, which shows both Ruby Bridges skipping toward school with U.S. marshals and sit-in demonstrators getting pushed and covered with condiments) and tender (Bayard singing "This Little Light of Mine" with Coretta and the King children). Two upsetting flashbacks, filmed in black and white, particularly stand out. The soundtrack and Branford Marsalis' score are also evocative, featuring jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, and classical music. See Rustin for Domingo's master class in acting and to learn more about one of the civil rights movement's unsung heroes.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the violence depicted in Rustin. Is it necessary to the story? Why, or why not?

  • How do racism and racial violence continue today? What about homophobia? How can people stand up to racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of discrimination?

  • Who in the movie do you consider a role model? What character strengths do they demonstrate?

  • What did you learn from this biographical drama about the civil rights movement and its leaders? Were you surprised by anything you learned in the movie?

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