On Friday, I had the esteemed privilege of watching what I believe will not only set the bar for all Oscar aspirants that will be rolling out over the next many months, but one of the most sensitive and on-the-mark sociological polemics exploring race-class conflicts since Crash. Bring It On: Fight to the Finish is closest that contemporary cinema has come to delving so deep inside the heart of the type of volatile psychology that sparked incidents in history like the Detroit Race Riots.
In this fifth sequel of the cheerleader franchise, we are asked to identify with Lina (Christina Milian), a sassy streetsmart high school girl who soon deals with the difficulties of having to attend an annoying all-white preppy Malibu high school. Because her mother marries rich. Although the film’s defining moment comes in a bitch-off between Lina and Obligatory Bitchy White Villainous Cheerleader like so:
Lina: [generic Spanish-language sass]
Bitchy Cheerleader: Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t speak Taco Bell Menu.
And in that single interchange, we are handed the answers to why there are wars in Iraq, genocide in Darfur, shootings at the Texaco border.
So in short: Yes. Rent this. It’s direct-to-DVD. I know you have nothing else going for you on Friday nights. I sure as hell didn’t when I went to see this and now my mind = blown.
