A Flawed Exploration of Race and Identity in America

A professional Black man grappling with his wife’s infidelity encounters a white temptress in a fever dream theatrical adaptation of playwright Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman. The film aims to confront powerful themes of race, emasculation, and Black identity in modern America, but its heavy‑handed execution undercuts any such ambitions. Strong lead performances from André Holland and Kate Mara are overshadowed by a total lack of subtlety. There are no shades of gray as the narrative unravels in a puzzling final act filled with meta references that never achieve the filmmakers’ expected dramatic impact.

The Dutchman begins with a frustrated Clay (Holland) sitting with his wife Kaya (Zazie Beetz) in marriage therapy. He’s unhappy that Dr. Amiri (Stephen McKinley Henderson) always seems to side with Kaya. She cheated on him, so why doesn’t he have the right to be upset? Kaya admits her mistake, but criticizes Clay for not talking to her when their problems started. This prompts Amiri to vocalize what he believes is Clay’s central conflict. Clay thinks that he’s “too Black” to really be accepted in the white world for his accomplishments, but “not Black enough” to embody his ancestors’ struggles.

Needless to say, Clay doesn’t take kindly to this observation and ends the session. He and Kaya have an important fundraiser that evening in Harlem for their friend, Councilman Warren Enright (Aldis Hodge). The couple separate at the door, but not before Amiri hands him a copy of The Dutchman with a mysterious warning that Clay ignores.

Clay enters a nearby subway station and is immediately searched by white police officers. He sits down in the subway car seething, but then notices a gorgeous white woman in stiletto heels and a skimpy dress watching him intently through the window. Clay’s stunned when she sits beside him and seductively starts to eat a red apple. He tries to move to another seat, but Lula (Mara) follows with even more tenacity. Her flirtatious guessing about his work and background unnerves Clay, and his initial instinct is to run away from Lula, but thoughts of Kaya’s infidelity changes that calculus.

Lula, as the biblical Eve chomping on the sinful apple, is not the first obvious thought, dear viewer. Amiri appearing as a character and giving Clay his play shatters any semblance of realism. Director/co-writer Andre Gaines (After Jackie, Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics) defangs the story by introducing fantasy elements from the start. We know within literal minutes that Clay is having some sort of supernatural experience, and this means there are potentially no teeth or actual consequences for Lula’s twisted games. So, there are two ways to look at this first act development: Accept Gaines’ overall vision and judge what happens on the merit of the message, or just stick around waiting for the other shoe to drop. That’s problematic and makes the film less substantive.

André Holland in The Dutchman

Rogue Pictures / Inaugural Entertainment

What takes place after the train ride is intriguing. The play takes place entirely in a subway car with dialogue primarily depicting their racial and sexual dynamics. Clay leaving with Lula and falling under her alluring spell, despite knowing he could be walking into a dangerous situation, actually makes sense. Temptation has consequences, but in the moment cannot be denied by rationality. Impulse, raw lust, and vengeance for what Kaya did to him are potent motivators. You don’t fault Clay for falling into the honey pot, and this trap works for a reason.

Mara sets the screen ablaze with Lula’s sultry machinations and she clearly relished the opportunity to portray such a vile vixen. Lula’s manipulation of Clay is all too real and perhaps the film’s most accurate tenet. Her screaming at the top of her lungs anytime Clay doesn’t follow orders to attract attention is ugly and truthful. Clay instantly becomes criminalized as the Black man standing beside her. What did he do? She must need help from an attacker. There’s never a public thought that he may be innocent and the subject of cruel manipulation.

André Holland and Kate Mara in The Dutchman

Gaines loses cohesion as Lula and Amiri’s intentions are finally known. Clay flails about in a racial quagmire that he must escape to truly find his footing as a Black man. Lula denigrating him as an “Uncle Tom” as she dictates standards of “Blackness” is poured on like thick prejudicial batter. It’s race-baiting sensationalism that gives no credence to Clay’s abilities. He’s successful in every way, so the idea that he has to address any type of Black merit, especially from white people, is patently ridiculous.

Holland is a superb actor, and he does a fine job emoting Clay’s turmoil with the material. His performance isn’t where The Dutchman goes off the rails. Yes, Black people can express rage and demand respect without being branded as trouble. This is the light at the end of Clay’s tunnel and the moral of Gaines’ story, but it unfortunately lands with a clunky thud.

The Dutchman is a production of Federal Films, Cinemation Studios, and Washington Square Films. It will have a limited theatrical release on January 2nd from Rogue Pictures and Inaugural Entertainment.