Today I had the pleasure of viewing the film "Sorry to Bother You," starring Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green and the lovely Tessa Thompson as his girlfriend, Detroit, and debuting Boots Riley as a director. The movie takes place in an almost familiar alternate reality of Oakland, California, and begins with Cassius obtaining a telemarketing job. Cassius lives in a garage with his girlfriend, paying rent to his uncle and struggling to scrounge up a bit of cash. After a bit of advice from a co-worker to use his "white" voice when selling, Cassius begins to earn more and more money through commission. However, even though Cassius becomes more successful, his friends and co-workers are still not making enough money. They and Cassius work to form a workers' union.

The day the union first makes itself known is when Cassius is offered a promotion as a power caller on the top floor. Cassius and his friends begin to diverge away from one another as Cassius delves deeper into his new job and as the strike progresses.

The film constantly shows commercials for Worry Free, a corporation that offers free housing and food in exchange for what is essentially slave labor. Cassius learns that as a power caller he will have to sell this labor to companies. He is aware of the moral implications of selling this alleged slave labor, but he does it anyway to take advantage of the immense salary being offered.

As Cassius becomes more involved in Worry Free and selling as a power caller, he loses his friends and his girlfriend. He ignores his friends striking and gets pegged with a soda can by someone protesting. His head is split open and covered in a bloody bandage. Eventually, Cassius learns a horrible secret about the victims of Worry Free. As he struggles with what is the moral action to take, his head wound keeps bleeding. Only after Cassius reveals the secret and takes action to help both the victims of Worry Free and his friends in their strike does his wound begin to heal, symbolizing his realignment with both himself and what is right.

"Sorry to Bother You" is a creative, hilarious, and well-done film warning viewers against the power placed in material value. Almost immediately it is known that Cassius is going to spend the film engulfed in money and material items. This is evident in his nickname, Cash, and his last name, Green. This film also brings into light racial issues, but in a funny way, such as through the use of the "white" voice. Instead of having the actors talk in what they perceive as a "white" voice, the voices of David Cross and other white actors are badly dubbed in for Cassius and other characters. This imperfect dubbing of a stereotypical white guy's voice elucidates the problem that without sounding like a white person Cassius is unable to sell any products. This helps to address the stigma that is still surrounding black people today. Although there are many people who celebrate everyone, regardless of gender, race, or sexuality, there are also many others that feel unsafe around black people or dismiss them in terms of intelligence simply because of their race.

As well as addressing racial issues, the film also addresses the issues surrounding capitalism. The big corporations like Worry Free are able to make all of this money by mutating workers and subjecting them to labor, and no one is able to stop them because they have all of the power by making the most money. The lower workers fight so that all of them can be paid equally. They fight to take the power back from the power callers of the top floor and corporations like Worry Free.

As Cassius and his friends are successful in revealing and ending the evil practices of Worry Free and in getting higher pay, the film offers hope in revolution against truly bad and evil practices made by corporations or the government.

Many great films like this one have come out this year and the past one, like "The Shape of Water," which is similar in its fantasy and sci-fi aspects, and "Get Out," which is similar in its ploys to address racial issues. All of these films also have such creative plotlines that make them so intriguing to watch. Hopefully with this rise in creative filmmaking will come even more unique and great films, helping to end the popularity of making movies with 6 sequels. Perhaps with this, the population as a whole will begin to appreciate films as both entertainment AND art.