Although Amiri Baraka’s 1964 play Dutchman is steeped with profound commentary on the era’s racism in the U.S., Andre Gaines‘ contemporary adaptation takes the plot and the message to haunting levels.

Co-written by Gaines and Qasim Basir, The Dutchman stars André Holland as Clay, a successful Black man grappling with his wife Kaya’s (Zazie Beetz) infidelity, as well as his own self-perception versus how the world sees him because of the color of his skin. After multiple people in his life tell him it’s only fair for him to step out on the marriage as well, he meets Lula (Kate Mara), a sinister, seductive white woman who knows an alarming amount about him.

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes,” the film’s opening reads, quoting Carl Jung.

Nearly two years after the killing of 30-year old Black man Jordan Neely on a New York City subway, and amid ongoing attacks on DEI and “woke” ideologies, Jung and Baraka’s words have never been more relevant.

In Baraka’s play, the setting of the underground train was seen as symbolic for America perpetually traveling the same course. With Gaines and Basir updating the script to address the last 60 years of racial conflict, the adaptation further explores the themes and message of the play beyond the train car.

After attending marriage counseling with Kaya, their therapist Dr. Amiri (Stephen McKinley Henderson) gives Clay a copy of Baraka’s play. As Clay finds himself trapped between who he is and who he must be, the doc notes that people “find pieces of ourself in literature that help us heal.”

In taking the script, Clay unwittingly becomes a pawn in Lula’s game, delivering a haunting meta twist that modernizes the story to let him reclaim his voice. It brings the timeless themes into the digital age with a supernatural twist.

Although the symbolism is strong and the underlying themes might seem a little heavy-handed at times, given that the source material was originally written for the stage during a wholly troubling era not unlike our own, that’s forgivable. The film is a dialogue-driven character study that presents as a journey of self-reflection as a nightmarish fever dream.

While Lula’s dark influence represents a very real mindset in society that feeds on fear and ignorance, Gaines’ update of The Dutchman offers a hopeful thought — it’s never too late to change the narrative.

Title: The Dutchman
Festival: SXSW (Narrative Spotlight)
Director: Andre Gaines
Screenwriters: Gaines, Qasim Basir
Cast: André Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Aldis Hodge, Lauren E. Banks
Sales agent: UTA/WME
Running time: 1 hr 28 mins