Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America

"Who We Are" comes at a time of racial reckoning in America and its message deserves to be heard loud and clear, but its impact is dulled by the flat presentation from directors Emily and Sarah Kunstler.

Robinson’s quasi-TED Talk is both broad-ranging and deep, covering a history that is political, legal, cultural, economic, psychological, emotional, moral and, in the end, also profoundly personal.

Suffers from the inherent banality that comes with watching a recording of someone – no matter how charismatic – speaking to a live audience we are not part of.

It gets its arms around a really complicated topic very efficiently, but in a way that is also thorough and surprisingly emotional.

The film's content isn't ritual at all. It's one man's answer, eloquent and heartfelt, to the challenge of reframing our discussion of a subject that has us numb from repetition.

An engaging and essential essay film that makes its points clearly, backed by evidence, for those open-minded enough to consider their education incomplete.

The point: We must look at the ugliest piece of American history and acknowledge that we're responsible for facing it -- even if we didn't create it.

Robinson's tone throughout is calm and reasoned, even when speaking with a white Southerner holding a Confederate flag and insisting the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery.

This documentary is no easy watch, but Who We Are does prove to be a stirring and necessary one.

Robinson’s film, based on his personal experiences as well as extensive scholarship, is one of the most powerful examinations of our country’s national curse.