Review: 'Colin in Black & White' Has a Striking Narrative, Vibrant Script, and Innovative Format

Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick have combined their formidable storytelling talents to create the revolutionary six-part series "Colin in Black and White."

The narrative is striking, the script is vibrant, and the format is innovative. A mixture of documentary, re-enactment, and ripped-from-the-headlines video clips, the 30-minute episodes chronicle Colin's coming-of-age tale as a mixed-race kid, excellently played by Jaden Michael.

The initial episode, "Cornrows," starts with the dramatic and 100% accurate assertation that professional sports is modern-day enslavement, the continuum of white men making money off of Black bodies and labor. The flow from Colin's narration to the scenes is seamless and engaging, smoothly scored by music of the period.

Viewers see Colin's days as a high school athlete in Turlock, CA, a place with lots of dairy farms and few African-Americans. Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Offerman convincingly play Colin's loving, adoptive white parents Teresa and Rick, who support their son but have trouble connecting him with Black culture, including African-American hairstyles. Although Colin excels at most sports, and is offered many baseball pitching scholarships, he holds firm to follow his dream, against all odds, to be a quarterback.

Narrator Colin muses that teams want players to be "killers, beasts, and animals," but that what's actually happening is a power dynamic that offers no dignity to the players. He notes that while the NFL is mostly comprised of Black players, there are disproportionally few Black QBs. Growing up, Colin does have a role model in the NBA's Allen Iverson, a man of "grace and grit" who is unapologetic about his Blackness, and proudly wears cornrows, which Colin wants to apply to his afro.

Both past and present Colin are shocked by the NFL management and public reaction to Iverson's ethnic hairstyle, not understanding "the scorn and derision for a simple act of self-expression."

Colin adds, "I wanted to rebel, but I didn't know how."

DuVernay directs the first episode and the present-day scenes, and brought in established Black directors for the other episodes: Sheldon Candis, Robert Townsend, Angel Kristi Williams, and Kenny Leon. Each POV sheds light on the damaging effects of white privilege and micro-aggressions throughout our culture, including the "acceptable Negro" trope as seen in media caricatures like "Family Matters"' Steve Urkel, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"'s Carlton Banks and "30 Rock"'s Toofer.

The takeaway from all perspectives is repeatedly voiced by Colin himself: "Trust your power."

The limited series "Colin in Black and White" comes to Netflix on October 29.