Film Review: Armageddon Time (Zeiten Des Umbruchs)
by Diana Schnelle
ARMAGEDDON TIME (ZEITEN DES UMBRUCHS)
James Gray, USA 2022
In the fall of 1980, Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) begins sixth grade in Flushing, Queens, New York, at a public middle school. Paul, a sensitive kid, wants to be an artist when he grows up. He’s still very much a naïve boy, but over the next few months, Paul learns heartbreaking lessons about privilege and prejudice.
At school, Paul quickly befriends Johnny (Jaylin Webb), a Black boy in his class, bonding over their contempt for their humorless teacher. When they make trouble, the teacher punishes Johnny more harshly than Paul, who is white. After the boys are caught smoking marijuana, Paul’s family decides to send him to the private school that his brother attends, much to Paul’s chagrin. Paul’s parents are middle-class strivers, who truly want the best for their children. His father Irving (Jeremy Strong) is a plumber, and his mother Esther (Anne Hathaway) has hopes of running for the school board. Neither one can quite connect with Paul, although Esther tries (and Hathaway’s performance is stellar!). It is Esther’s father Aaron (Anthony Hopkins) who understands and bonds with Paul. It is also Aaron who explains – in private conversations with Paul and at boisterous family dinners – why their Jewish family fled persecution in Europe for a better life, as well as the inevitable antisemitism they faced in the US. At his new school, where former president Donald Trump’s father Fred Trump is a benefactor, Paul is fed mixed messages about his place in society and entitlement. Meanwhile, there are crushing lessons for Johnny to learn, and Johnny and Paul’s last adventure together reveals the harsh realities of how power works.
ARMAGEDDON TIME is based on director James Gray’s biography, and it is a powerful coming-of-age story that explores the iniquities of America’s capitalist society against the backdrop of Ronald Regan being elected president, and the repercussions of that specific moment in American history. (It’s no accident that the Trump family factors into the tale).
