The idea of art as empathy machines is one that’s never quite sat well with me. I understand the appeal to be certain, but have difficulty believing that any art can change a person’s core beliefs. I can see works of art being used to educate and inform, maybe tilt one way or the other, but I have doubts that watching ‘Moonlight‘ will stop someone from being racist, or homophobic, even if it’s one of the greatest films of the past decade.

But it’s always worth taking a shot at such a high ideal, and ‘Nickel Boys‘ attempt worked so well for me that I have no choice but to respect it. Shot almost entirely from the point of view of our protagonists, the film tells the story of Elwood (Ethan Herisse), a young black boy who finds himself at a reform school in Florida during the Jim Crow era. Initially it’s just a story of growing up, of being so small and fascinated by the world as it exists. The shots from when he’s very small feel so personal and relatable. Sitting on a parent’s lap and playing with their jewelry, playing peekaboo with your grandmother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) as you hide in the sheets. These sequences are unanimous touchstones for all of us and immediately ground the film in a relatable nature.

Then, as Elwood is hitchhiking to a technical college he got into, the driver is arrested for stealing and Elwood is sentenced as his accomplice. Elwood finds him at Nickel Academy, a segregated reform school where he is primarily used for what is called “community service” but has to be acknowledged as slave labor while never getting anything close to what could be referred to as an education. He hears of some of the punishments that are doled out on his fellow inmates, and it’s the stuff of legend and rumor. One introduced by Spencer, the jailer, is simply referred to as “a place you won’t want to be”. Another is an unconditioned sweatbox on top of the school. And finally there are whispers of students disappearing, and the kids that remain being told they ran away.

Much of this information comes from another quiet student, Turner (Brandon Wilson), and the film takes turns showing you the point of view of either Elwood or Turner. Letting you see the faces and reactions of the other at key points. Putting you in the body of these characters as they are tortured, beaten, and belittled is paramount to forcing the audience into the perspective of these boys.

As the film goes on, eventually we see an adult Elwood (Daveed Diggs) living in an apartment in New York in the 1980s. He is feverishly reading through articles about Nickel Academy. Countless bodies were discovered and in horror he weighs whether or not he should testify against the school. This discovery is of course not new to him, he knew those rumors were true. But he’s been forced by the school to view himself as a “grub” and is disillusioned by trauma that he can amount any real change.

The switching of perspectives between Elwood, Turner, and Adult Elwood may look like a gimmick at first glance, but it’s a massive part of what makes this movie hit so hard. And while I still have concerns about art as empathy machines, “Nickel Boys” will leave you shattered by the horrors of what Americans did to their fellow man, and concerned that we have not done nearly enough to fix the systemic problems that still flourish to this day.

5/5