Black Snake Moan: I suggest rather than recommend it

Yesterday, while wondering around TVTropes, I ended up on the page for Black Snake Moan. Like the poster, the trailer is . . . well:

Now, in all fairness to the film itself, it is not the exploitative big-scary-black-man-kidnaps-pretty-white-girl-drug-addict-and-turns-her-into-his-sex-slave thing that the trailer and poster make it out to be. Samuel L. Jackson's character (Lazarus Redd) and Christina Ricci's character (Rae) don't have a sexual relationship in the film. Instead, they form an unlikely friendship (almost a father-daughter relationship) that ultimately helps both of them become better people.

I will put the rest under a cut to avoid spoilers.

So Rae's a nymphomaniac. The movie opens with her sending her steadiest boyfriend I-already-forgot-his-name off to war and before his truck has turned the corner, she's fallen to the ground, writhing and trying not to masturbate. I have to give the movie credit for not making this scene look "sexy". Rae looks miserable, crying like she's actually in pain. It looks no different than any other dangerous compulsion might look like.

For the rest of the opening, Rae is seeing engaging in sex that she "needs" but doesn't necessarily want or even enjoy with increasingly dangerous men who are clearly taking advantage of her condition. This movie is set in the rural American south and doesn't shy away from stereotypes, so while no one uses sophisticated medical lingo to describe Rae's condition, everyone seems to understand that she's something beyond a woman who happens to enjoy sex.

Still, I wouldn't call the movie "progressive" in regards to its treatment of female sexuality. Though most "good" characters are kind towards Rae's plight, it's clear that they're mostly concerned with the fact that she's sleeping around. If Rae had restricted her compulsions to one partner, no matter how objectionable, chances are no one would have considered that she had a problem. Probably not even Rae herself. If she had restricted her behavior to a series of monogamous partners, chances are few would have considered her sexual behavior abnormal.  

Of course, before I condemn this movie for being judgmental about women who have lots of sex with different men, I have to consider how believable it would've been for any character to champion for a woman's right to sexual "promiscuity". Again, rural south. And many of the characters are quite religious. So are the somewhat antiquated views about sex a product of the director's views, or a product of the characters' views? Hard to say without interviewing the director directly. 

The only thing I can reiterate is that Rae's character is, for the most part, treated with sympathy and a modicum of respect. Even the supposedly sexy scenes where she writhes around half naked in a chain seem more tragic than sexual. That was probably because Christina Ricci looks emaciated for this role. TVTropes claims that she put herself on a special diet to make herself look unhealthy, and if so, she succeeded. At one point, she's trying to pose seductively in front of Jackson and when she raises her arms, there's a grotesque instant where you can count all her ribs. 

As for Lazarus Redd, he's an out-of-luck blues singer turned sustenance farmer whose wife has left him for his younger brother. At the beginning of the film, he's seen having arguments with both of them (and in fact almost kills the brother). Lazarus' devout religious beliefs make him open to the idea of forgiveness in order to save his marriage, which is probably why his ex-wife's persistent rejections make him so angry.

By the time he finds Rae bleeding by the side of the road, he's having a crisis of faith. Insane as it sounds, I believe it when he says that he believes God put Rae on his doorstep so he could "cure her of her wickedness". Since he didn't try any ridiculous exorcism, excessive preaching, or violence (besides preventing Rae from living), I accepted the movie's premise in good will.

This movie had a lot of opportunities to be extremely offensive. The trailer and poster where obviously playing with the social taboo of a black man sexually abusing a cute white waif. But I already mentioned above that the dynamic between Rae and Lazarus was not sexual. Rae did make some attempts to "seduce" Lazarus into letting her go, but she gave up pretty quickly because he seemed unfazed by all of them.

For me, the movie also had to avoid the pitfall of making Lazarus into Rae's magical negro. Mostly, I think it succeeded. Rae helps Lazarus as much as he helped her. Towards the end, Lazarus seemed much happier and ready to start a relationship with the nice pharmacist who seemed to have a crush on him. 

So if I accepted the ludicrous premise, liked the leads, their relationship, and even the characterization of most bit players, why am I not enthusiastically recommending this film? 

Because I found the conclusion utterly unsatisfying. 

In the film's final act, Rae's steady boyfriend returns from the military after being discharged due to severe anxiety and panic attacks. By this point, the trailer-chain around Rae's waist is long gone and she's very obviously friends with Lazarus. Steady boyfriend sees this and immediately assumes that Rae got together with "some nigger" even though he's only been gone like . . . a weekend. So he shows up to Lazarus' house with a gun.

This turn of events isn't necessarily unbelievable considering the setting and Rae's history, and the movie had more-or-less been "realistic", chained nymphomaniac aside. Then Lazarus talks down the irate white guy waving a gun thinking that his girlfriend has cheated on him with some big black dude. And all I can think is, "angry white guy would've shot him after the first taunt about not being a real man". And then Rae and her boyfriend have one talk with a minister, get married in Lazarus' front yard, and go off into the rural sunset. 

The last scene shows Rae getting control of a sexual compulsion so she can comfort the boyfriend while he has a panic attack, and all I could think was . . . that's it? One day chained to a radiator, one night of dancing at a blues club, and Rae's compulsive hypersexuality is under control? I'm used to Hollywood characters abruptly "getting over" crippling mental illnesses in a weekend of meaningful conversation, but that doesn't mean I like it whenever it happens.