Self-Made
Ratings: 4.4/5
Director: Kasi Lemmons, DeMane Davis
Genre: Drama
Release Date: 20th March, 2020
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Star Cast: Octavia Spencer, Tiffany Haddish, Carmen Ejogo, Garrett Morris, Kevin Carroll, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Blair Underwood
Plot:
‘Self-Made’ is a Netflix mini-series depicting the story of black hair care pioneer and mogul Madam C.J. Walker (born as Sarah Breedlove in December, 1867) and how she overcame the hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages and some trifling family to become America’s first Black, self-made female millionaire.
The story goes as: Sarah Breedlove is a poor washer-woman who is losing her hair when she meets Addie who saves her bald spots with her miracle grow. To show her appreciation of Addie, Sarah wants to become a saleswoman, but Addie knocks her confidence down. Infuriated, Sarah goes on to create her own line of hair growth products.
This is a journey of how her becoming an entrepreneur and the struggles in between.
Review:
The beginning of the story is set in St. Louis in 1908, where the stress of working as a washerwoman and living with an angry drunk husband makes the character of Sarah Breedlove played by Octavia Spencer, hits her lowest point when her hair starts to fall out. Now, it is crucial to understand this is not the story of any regular balding problems. The importance of the hair of African women is no ordinary. The cultural and symbolic weight of black women’s hair has been explored respectfully. The early life of Sarah before venturing out as an entrepreneur is met with less highs and more lows. The lowest point hit her when she started losing all her hair and her first husband left calling her a ‘mangy dog’, until she meets the gorgeous Addie Munroe played by Carmen Ejogo who comes to Walker’s door selling her line of hair products.
The story proves to be immediately involving and engaging. The opening minutes of episode one will make the audience cheer for the lead character ‘Sarah’. This woman is driven to succeed despite everyone around telling her to stop. While it’s a cliched tale of triumph against adversity, the backdrop sets it apart for a story with such black history has never been told before.
The music has also been a huge aiding factors in making the comprehension interesting. One will be able to relate with ‘Walker’ emotionally through the soundtrack. During scenes of Walker working on her products or celebrating milestones of her success with loved ones, the producers opted for upbeat rock or funk tunes.
Highly regarded actors such as Spencer, Blair Underwood and Garrett Morris have nailed the performances playing characters from the Reconstruction through Civil Rights eras. However, it sounds like the contemporary times because of the way female characters speak to their male counterparts in the series which was not common in that era. In fact, this series has both historic and a modern touch.
The directors Kasi Lemmons and DeMane Davis have gone for the good old-fashioned portraying how it all started: the market for beautification of black women hair. How Walker capitalised on an never-known market. This story gives every aspiring entrepreneur the necessary push and the common audience, a glorious chance to re-visit history and appreciate the journey of Sarah becoming Madam CJ Walker and slowly growing a business empire that still exists to this day.
