[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]n many ways, Blindspotting is a film about dualism and the tension between seeing things from multiple perspectives: The old Oakland vs. the new Oakland. White experiences vs. black experiences. Crime vs. police brutality. Surreal vs. real. The modern day buddy film set in Oakland stars IRL friends and co-authors of its script, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal.
Growing up in Oakland, Diggs and Casal have watched their city change first-hand. Daveed’s family was recently priced out of Oakland (they moved to Richmond and are facing similar problems there) and over the course of the making of the film, Diggs and Casal found out that many of the locations they wanted to shoot no longer existed, a reflection of the East Bay's rampant gentrification.
The duo uses the film as a way to bring attention to the impact of gentrification on California's communities of long-term residents, but also as a way to mourn the loss of relics from their childhood and the loss of the real innocent lives that have been killed at the hands of police. Despite taking on such serious issues, Blindspotting is still an incredibly funny film that shifts quickly between moments of comedy and drama.
[dropcap size=big]D[/dropcap]iggs is best known as the Tony and Grammy Award winning star of the hit Broadway play Hamilton. He leads the narrative as Collin, a convicted felon with everything to lose finishing off his final three days of probation in a halfway house. Casal is a Latino spoken-word artist and playwright. He co-stars as Miles, a hot-headed, working class white West Oakland native that feels like he has everything to prove.