Rob Peace
Chiwetel Ejiofor’s second directorial work tackles the true story of a man who climbs out of Newark to study molecular biophysics at Yale.
Image courtesy of Elysian Film Group Distribution.
The dedication which closes this film by Chiwetel Ejiofor is worded in terms that confirm his obvious commitment to it: "In loving memory of Robert DeShaun Peace". This is the second feature film to have been written and directed by Ejiofor who each time also appears on screen playing the father of the central character. His earlier venture in 2019 was The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind which was set in Malawi. That film, based on a memoir, was concerned with a teenager from a poor background, William Kamkwamba, whose skills in building a wind turbine designed to generate electricity and bring rain following a serious drought turned him into something of a celebrity. Rob Peace has enough in common with it to be considered a companion piece even if this work takes place in East Orange, New Jersey. That’s because it features a man born there whose exceptional abilities would earn him a place at Yale University. Coming from a poor black community Rob Peace would graduate with distinction in the field of molecular biophysics and biochemistry. This film is again based on a book, this one a work published in 2014 by Jeff Hobbs who had been a roommate of Peace at Yale and chose to write about his friend’s life.
A major difference between these two real-life stories lies in the fact that, despite both being concerned with aspirations realised, in the case of Robert Peace his life would take a tragic turn. Indeed, one reason why Ejiofor wanted to film his story would appear to stem from his wish to celebrate the endeavours of somebody whose position in society made him an underdog and then to suggest that what Peace attempted is worthy of praise despite those elements in his life both personal and social that denied him the achievements that might have been his. In particular Ejiofor’s film praises somebody who rather than seeking to break away fully from a lowly background wanted to do things that would benefit the community from which he had come.
In the case of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind I felt that Ejiofor in expressing strong human concern had created a first feature in a solidly traditional style which was not so far removed from the cinema of Satyajit Ray. Many of its qualities are again to be found here including Ejiofor’s evident feeling for the people portrayed and the quality of the performances that he has obtained. Jay Hill in his first major role is ideal casting for Rob himself, Mary J. Blige (an executive producer as well) plays Rob's mother, Jackie, and Camila Cabello appears as Rob's girlfriend, Naya. In the able supporting cast, there are useful contributions from Mare Winningham as a helpful professor at Yale and from Michael Kelly in the role of Father Leahy who runs the local preparatory school in East Orange, Saint Benedict’s, where Rob had been a pupil and would return as a teacher.
However, even allowing for the fact that both of Ejiofor’s films bring a degree of dramatisation to a real-life story, the life of Rob Peace lends itself to a feature film rather less well than the youthful successes of William Kamkwamba. This is particularly apparent when it comes to the events portrayed in the last quarter of this two-hour feature. Up to that point the film has moved well (Ejiofor has the services of the well-established editor Masahiro Hirakubo) and a strong central feature of it is the relationship between Rob and his father, Robert Skeet Douglas, so well embodied by Ejiofor himself. When Rob was just seven years old his father was accused of killing two women and at his trial three years later despite denying his guilt was condemned to life imprisonment. The son believed in his father's innocence but as he grew up and made his way to Yale, he was keen to hide his connection with a convicted felon (it helped that he was known by his mother's name of Peace). At the same time and very willingly but not without pressure from his father, he contributed over the years to the cost of legal appeals against the sentence that had been passed. This affected his life deeply not only because of the strain involved but due to his decision to deal in drugs in order to pay the lawyers hired.
Some critics have found the film’s style insufficiently gritty for the subject-matter and it is the case that by portraying Rob's life from childhood onwards the film sometimes lacks the time to develop certain characters more fully – this applies not only to Rob’s close school friends (Curt Morlaye and Caleb Eberhardt) but also to the more significant roles of Jackie Peace and Naya Vazquez. But, given that the narrative contains so much that is gripping and that Ejiofor wanted to make a film which would have popular appeal without sacrificing the truth, Rob Peace for much of its length works well.
American audiences in particular are always ready to respond strongly to stories about fathers and sons but that aspect of Rob Peace is largely overtaken in its later scenes by material that has less dramatic weight and flows less well. Elaborate plans to buy up fading properties in East Orange in order to develop them and improve the area lead to chaos due to the financial crisis of 2008 and, intent on repaying loans, Rob again becomes involved in drug dealing. These passages being intercut with footage about Rob’s teaching work at his old school fail to realise their full dramatic potential and in addition I can only regard the last scenes of all as decidedly misjudged. Earlier the popular element is generally well handled, but the final section built around Rob's application to a graduate school is edited in a way that suggests an all-out effort to milk the material and to wring tears from the audience. This approach feels cheap and unworthy, but it's a misjudgment that doesn't make one question the good intentions and sincerity of feeling in Ejiofor’s decision to pay tribute to Rob Peace by bringing his story to the screen.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Jay Will, Mary J. Blige, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Camila Cabello, Curt Morlaye, Caleb Eberhardt, Michael Kelly, Mare Winningham, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Benjamin Papac, Juan Castano, Marjorie Johnson, Jelani Dacres, Chance K. Smith, Reggie Alvin Green, Ian Duff, Robert Ray Manning Jr., Antu Yacob.
Dir Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pro Antoine Fuqua, Rebecca Hobbs, Jeffrey Soros, Simon Horsman, Andrea Calderwood, Kat Samick, Alex Hurtzman and Jenny Lumet, Screenplay Chiwetel Ejiofor, from the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs, Ph Ksenia Sereda, Pro Des Dina Goldman, Ed Masahiro Hirakubo, Music Jeff Russo, Costumes Deirdra Elizabeth Govan.
Sugar Peace/25 Stories/Hill District Media/Participant/Los Angeles Media Fund-Elysian Film Group Distribution.
120 mins. USA. 2024. US Rel: 16 August 2024. UK Rel: 6 September 2024. Cert. 15.
