From MIM Notes #59:
CITY OF HOPE
(1991)

City of Hope is writer/director John Sayles' picture of urban 
decay. Set in a city that could be any Amerikan metropolis, Sayles 
shows us pieces of the capitalist epidemic: builders on kickbacks, 
corrupt politicians, police brutality, and a sell-out Black city 
council member.

As one of the growing number of non-Hollywood directors who makes 
political films, MIM gives Sayles high marks for this work which 
gives a realistic picture of the problems of capitalism. Sayles' 
other work includes Matewan, Return of the Secaucus Seven, and 
Brother from Another Planet.

In the opening scene Nick, one of the main characters, quits his 
union construction job where he does nothing but drugs and sit on 
his ass. Nick's father, the builder, arranged the job, but the 
payroll is padded with lots of other non-workers as favors to the 
powers that be (necessary building permit, etc.)

In another piece of the picture, Wynn, the Black city council 
member, tries to approach a Black Muslim community center for 
support on a school bond issue. In what is likely seen as dogmatic 
by white liberal audiences, the Muslims call him an oreo cookie, 
someone who is begging for acceptance in the white man's system.

But Wynn has some opportunist lessons to teach the Muslim brothers 
(and other revolutionaries.) Late in the film, two Black 
kids-after being roughed up by the police-beat up a white jogger. 
They make up a story that he solicited sex, justifying their 
actions as self-defense. The Black community calls for a meeting 
to counter the prosecution of the boys. Wynn works behind the 
scenes to get the charges dropped, but he is worried that the 
Muslims will call him out at the meeting, exposing that he 
believes the boys made up the story.

Wynn immediately takes control of the meeting, and announces to 
the awestruck crowd that he has had the charges dropped. He then 
diverts everyone's attention to a housing project that Nick's 
father just had burned down as a political favor to get Nick out 
of trouble with the cops. Wynn gets everyone hyped that if they 
march immediately to the mayor's political dinner, and show him 
that they all vote, then the city will repair the project instead 
of going ahead with plans to demolish it. This is a realistic 
example of what happens to would-be revolutionaries who don't 
assert leadership at their own events: some reformist or 
revisionist will grab the bullhorn and lead the masses astray.

The downfall of Sayles' film is its liberal, anti-revolution 
outlook. He paints a solid portrait of the ugly face of Amerikan 
capitalism, but only holds out the ballot box. In one interview, 
he said, "I personally don't see a whole lot of help coming from 
above right now, and people have to realize that at least in this 
country, you can get rid of these guys after eight years or maybe 
four years. That you really have to take a close look and say, 
'Our leadership is there because we allow them to be there.' I 
hope that's true."

The film ends with a street person parroting the line "We need 
help." Sayles' film needs the help of a revolutionary rewrite, 
cutting the liberal illusions and telling people to build public 
opinion, rather than bourgeois appeal to corrupt politicians.