The Bottom Line
- Showcases realistic social issues of an interracial affair
- Looks inside a real family's dynamics
- Beautiful footage of Huntsville
- Many flashbacks that require concentration to follow along
Description
- Billy Dee Williams
- Gabrielle Union
- Hill Harper
- Ever Carradine
- Lesley Ann Warren
- Zoe Saldana
- David Clennon
- Rae Dawn Chong
- Melissa De Sousa
- Alec Newman
Guide Review - Movie Review "Constellation"
The movie opens with a brief look at the budding love of a young black girl and a white solider. This was taboo in the early '50's. The rest of the film shows how this one love affair tore the family apart and then brings them all back together 50 years later at the funeral of the once-young girl, Camel Boxer, played by Gabrielle Union. This funeral digs up all the family's buried secrets and reunites them in a reunion long overdue. Billy Dee Williams portrays the family patriarch as Helms Boxer.
I found this movie very confusing at first. There are a lot of flashbacks and it was hard to match couples together, then and now, married and dating. The more I reflect on the movie, the more I like it and I think a second look would be a good idea.
The movie actually lists and names "Huntsville, Alabama" as the place where this fictional story takes place. This is almost a promo for Huntsville, showing beautiful footage of the US Space & Rocket Center, the Huntsville Museum of Art, North Alabama Railroad Museum, EarlyWorks Children's Museum, The Ledges, A&M University, Humphreys, Holiday Inn-Madison plus many other places. You can see a map of where scenes were shot and a list of who some of the local residents in the movie are.
