Everybody
is well aware of the dire statistics. Black women are 5 times
as likely to never marry as white women. 70% of new AIDS cases
in this country are among African-American females in America,
and the disease is the leading killer of black women between
the ages of 25 and 34. Over 40% of black women have never
been married, and the more money they make, the less likely
they are to tie the knot or procreate.
All
of the above might lead one to wonder how sisters are coping
in the face of such insurmountable odds. Fortunately, some
rather revealing answers have arrived in SoulMate a moving
documentary in which some very intelligent, educated, attractive,
successful and spiritual black women open up to share their
heartfelt feelings about their predicament.
Directed
by veteran TV-producer Andrea Wiley (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air),
the picture features testimonials from subjects so ostensibly
desirable it is mind-boggling to believe it when they speak
of their loneliness and how badly they’d like to share
their abundance with a brother ready to settle down and start
a family. But whether a businesswoman, a model, a doctor,
a company president, a shrink, a sales exec, a minister, an
actress, or in another walk-of-life, they all recite a similar
refrain, namely, that they have long-since made peace with
the distinct possibility of growing old alone.
Why
is marriage so elusive for accomplished black women,
the most unpartnered segment of the U.S. population?
The participants cite the skyrocketing black male incarceration
rate, the down-low phenomenon, and brothers dating women
of other colors as all contributing factors.
One
sees the problem as more deep-seeded, surmising that
“the institution of slavery systematically tore
our families apart, and some of the process that began
then, continues now… And since the Sixties, our
ability to partner has deteriorated considerably.”
Another
points to the fact that even Oprah Winfrey and Condoleezza
Rice are still single as proof of how serious a situation
we’re dealing with. Yet another interviewee, unwilling
to be in the “freak file” in anybody’s
Rolodex, says resolutely that shed rather remain celibate
till she finds a spot in the right man’s “forever
file.”
Candid
conversations with Christ as the common denominator,
Soulmate offers a fascinating, frank and ultimately
optimistic exploration of a woefully unaddressed issue.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 83 minutes
Studio: Clean Heart Productions
DVD Extras: Bonus footage, profile of the director,
and a faith-based featurette.
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