Brother From Another

 Brother From Another Planet, is a classic Afro futurist film that highlights elements of the black experience through its extraterrestrial elements. The main character, while he possesses many special skills far beyond any normal human, is mute. When he arrives to America and finds himself in Harlem, he is in an environment almost completely filled with Black people. Because of this, his Black features are seen as rather neutral and those around him are able to see thru to his other stand out characteristics. His inability to speak in the film, especially to other Black people, is a perfect metaphor for American enslavement. When Africans were first forced into enslavement, there was such a wealth of linguistic barriers between them (seeing as they all came from different cultures) and many of them couldn't communicate effectively. This of course coupled with the fact that they were prohibited from reading and writing. Other elements of the film, like his psychic abilities, may serve as a metaphor for the amazing things Black people had to do to survive and escape enslavement. Many recounts of enslaved peoples escapes said that Harriet Tubman used "messages from God" to intuitively know when she and the others were safe and when they were not. The near psychic/superhuman abilities observed to do something so incredible as Tubman did can be compared to the Brother's abilities in the film.