Did I Wake You?

Opening with the statistic that once every 46 seconds a black youth drops out of high school--"that is to say, he finally says 'no' to a system that's never said 'yes' to him"--actress/filmmaker Venus DeMilo's (TV's The Bold and the Beautiful, Family Matters) Sundance Film Festival-aired short film wears its one-sided polemic heart on its cinematic sleeve, so to speak, right from the start. Shot in b&w, the five-minute film offers a recitation of wake-you-up statistics (every 104 seconds a black teenager becomes pregnant) coupled with the sound of a beating heart laid over a series of images of male and female black adults, adolescents and children (some touchingly tender, others--such as the sight of a white policeman violently shoving a black man up against a chain-link fence--provocative). As disturbing as the numbers (culled from the Children's Defense Fund) are, however, this is roughly the equivalent of--and definitely feels like--a public service announcement. Not surprisingly, given its short running time, Did I Wake You?--while unquestionably well-meaning--offers no more of a solution to the problem than your occasional socially conscious MTV music video. An optional purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)