Robert Duvall in "A Family Thing" - An Important Movie

If Robert Duvall is in the movie, I'll watch it. To my knowledge, he's never starred in a weak movie. And that's why I selected A Family Thing (1995) from my Netflix cue.

Duvall is Earl, who has lived a small-town life in the deep South for 60 years. When Earl's mother dies, he finds out that his real mother is a black woman. He follows through on a promise to his mother to find his black brother and treat him like family.

The story is what happens next. All I'll say is that if everyone in America would watch this movie, the black-white divisiveness that persists in our culture would disappear. It's a moving film, with lots of electricity between Duvall and James Earl Jones and Duvall delivering an Oscar-worthy performance, as he almost always does.

A wonderful surprise is Irma P. Hall, who plays "Aunt T," sister of Earl's real mother. You'll love her, I guarantee it. Something she said stuck in my brain...

"Nobody ever knows what it's like for somebody else. That's always the problem."

Yes, it's a lame title. But watch the movie, man.

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength .