A Review of Stomp the Yard
Posted: Monday, February 19, 2007
by Joseph Jagde
On several levels this was a fantastic film.
The movie started out with a long scene of break dancing contest with rather surreal overtones and ended this rather lengthy opening scene with a tragic shooting over the earnings of the winners of the contest, although this was not a violent movie. Then the movie quickly moves to its setting of the south in Georgia centering on Altanta, where we are treated to some great scenery of the area and introduced to the central character of D. J. who is now back home and is being sent to a prestigious university called Truth University as a last chance to make amends and right himself. D.J. is for the most part self confident and self assured and isn’t wearing his recent deep troubles on his sleeve. However, he carries with himself a degree of resistance to his new environment that he himself needs to sift through and make decisions on. Right away he asserts himself against an upperclassmen digs to the freshmen and establishes himself as someone to be reckoned with. He shows early on that he is also academically able and diligent, but his motives aren't fully revealed as to what his long term goals really are and he doesn't admit to much with that. As he is registering for the school, he spots a beautiful girl at the water fountain drinking the water, and is instantly mesmerized. The scene itself was quite unique, I don’t remember a recent movie where a key character in the whole movie was introduced at a water fountain. Not exactly knowing what the movie was about and being that there was this huge introduction of a break dance or step dance scene, I was wondering what would be following. Soon we find two competing franchise fraternities matching super intense step dance routines, caught with cinematography and acting that was rather awesome. It was interesting that the step routines seemed mostly very aggressive, yet never came thru to actual violence. The filmography in this was excellent in capturing expressions, moves, and the build up of these dance routines. Regardless of what you think of the sport, you have to admire how these guys are in rather tip top shape and the work that must have been involved to get there and stay there. Later there will be a national contest regarding this and D.J. does a competing routine at a club that everyone sees and notices, and he is spotted as a desirable recruit for both fraternities for his unique creativity and delivery for this step dance.
The step dance, rivals any sport you will see for sheer intensity and athleticism and the depictions in this movie of this sport were rather riveting. It was interesting how the initial camera work of the movie was jumpy in the opening scene and you wondered if this was a second rate movie at that point and later you can understand this had to be on purpose to create an initial sense of chaos because the camera work was an exquisite A plus in this film and among the scenes was just an awesome catch of a sunset over the rolling mountains where the brothers were standing together on a hillside and an imposition against a close up of a full moon.
What this movie captured and in a larger sense celebrated was the sheer physicality and combined personal and group expression of sport and rallying of the brotherhood and how people in the South really can take advantage of favorable outdoor weather to find this type of outdoor expression in this case during the school year., whereas for example in the Northeast it would be just too cold to have similar scene at that time of the year. As the movie develops, we begin find out who the mystery girl is and her name is April. April's beauty is enhanced on screen by a number of outdoor scenes on campus in the sun where her beauty is really brought out by the increased visibility of direct sunlight. Her blend of personality, beauty, voice and academic prowess make her seem potentially unapproachable, but we begin to see her as a person who is also finding her way. She is being tracked by her father the Provost of the school to eventually marry one the leader of the one fraternity who is on a 6 year law program and who is fitting the profile of a future successful person. The acting by the father of April, and D.J.'s parents was quite good and there is quite a twist there as well as the story goes on.
The story and conflicts that develop were quite engrossing. The whole weave of the story is focused on the idea of history and an interwoven personal history that may or may not be helped by getting in this prestigous school and joining the brotherhood. Just being there and doing well, isn't going to guarantee everything and the right catch still needs to be made on the opportunities of the moment, that can have long term implications either way on someone's extended personal history. April, despite her super catch boyfriend begins to see something in D.J. that she hasn’t experienced before. D.J. seems to have a lot going for him, but it teetering on the brink for several reasons yet has many friends on his side as he seems to have garnered a quick degree of respect as someone who is a leader, yet he is still behind the eight ball in other ways. Even though the conflict seemed to take sides, it wasn’t so over the top that it seemed unbelievable and where you also didn’t feel a for both sides and all the characters concerned.
The weave on the story itself was rather incredible in maintaining its theme. D.J. in referring to history, seems to be able to find himself as he approaches April and tries to win her heart, as someone who is finding his own personal history in the moment and sharing that now as a part of his personal revealing, rather than just trying to write the story well in advance towards the best possible script, which is also a theme of the school itself, which is in some ways all about connections and scripting for the future. At Truth University, it seems to be a question of whether the truth will be revealed now, or later when it just might be too late and whether truth can indeed be found on a spectrum, a spectrum which can vary to each individuals uniqueness and yet still might need the help of the friends and the group. And then, the question becomes does history have to repeat into the future, can histories decisions be reversed and new course found and the weight of all evidence weighed without just following the perfect script and maybe finding some deviation from that still has truth and validity that can also have substance and grounding. The character of D.J. was fascinating and complex and he was able to find a sense of history and bring it back into the present unlike others who were more concerned with the history for histories sake and in finding a hold on the future to the detriment of fully sharing in truth the present and whether this was enough to get him thru some real profound conflicts to find his own personal truth in the making makes this a story worth seeing.
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