A Mother’s Love is Shown amongst a backdrop of pageantry

by Kathia Woods

One of the dynamic relationships to navigate is that of a Mother and Daughter. It is a bond like no other. Miss Juneteenth examines that bond intelligently and with raw honesty. Channing Godfrey Peoples uses a beauty pageant in a small town in Texas as a background for this story. A beauty contest is held yearly on Juneteenth to celebrate the liberation of Slaves as well as offer young ladies an opportunity to showcase their talents in exchange for a scholarship. The scholarship offers the young contestants a chance to leave the confines of small-town America.

Nicole Beharie, best known from the Fox drama Sleepy Hollow is Turquoise Jones. Turquoise is a former Miss Juneteenth and has her sights set on having her daughter follow in her footsteps.

Turquoise is smart, innovative, and hard-working, but she can't let go of a dysfunctional relationship with the father of her child. Sadly, this is behavior all too familiar in many women's lives. Miss Juneteenth delves into the cause and effect of such challenging choices.

I love how Godfrey allows the viewer to see the complete story without judgment. At first, when you met Turquoise, you think how her life changed due to motherhood. A college education ripped from her via one wrong choice as much as she thrived on carving a life so different than her mother somehow, they both ended up in the same place.

You can be highly intelligent, hard-working but when you grow up around negativity, it's hard to break the pattern.

Turquoise's relationship with her mother portrayed powerfully by Lori Hayes is cemented in pain. Hayes is a walking contradiction. She recently found Jesus and wants to pray the devil out of her daughter and granddaughter while tackling a drinking problem. One isn't sure if she loves her daughter, but there is some unresolved guilt. Accepting Turquoise would mean taking responsibility for her hand in those choices.

Newcomer Alexis Chikaeze is charming as Kai. She wants to have the freedom to make her way, but her mother is fearful that if she lets her grow, she's bound to fail. The villain in this tale is Kendrick Sampson, as Ronnie. He's selfish. He has more excuses than days in the week. Everything is "I meant to" and "I'm trying." You can predict the answer before he says it. Kai knows her father is no good, but when will Turquoise cut the cord.

Miss Juneteenth, the pageant, is Turquoise way of giving her daughter a chance at a life she didn't get to have. She wants her to have options. On paper, it seems silly to think a beauty contest can provide that, but when you come from nothing and a bit of light helps.

Miss Juneteenth is the story of so many women. Women that dimmed their light due to a mistake, but it's also about forgiveness. You must forgive yourself for healing and for moving forward. You also must trust just because you made a mistake or were surrounded by dysfunction that doesn't mean that our daughters are doomed.

A mother's love is deep for her daughter, but part of that love is learning to listen.

This film deserves to be seen by a bigger audience, and it will spark many conversations but hopefully some healing.

Diversity: It gets a 10 for an all black cast and three dimensional characters.

Scale: This film gets a 7. Nicole Beharie gives a thoughtful performance as Turquoise.