Oscar-nominated Get Out: Five perfect scenes and one great shot

While it may seem implausible now, Kaluuya, who plays the protagonist Chris in the movie, had to convince Peele that he would be able to pull off Chris. Peele had some doubts about him playing the role as Kaluuya is British. Kind of ironical, but as they, all’s well that ends well. In fact, Peele had confessed the same during an earlier interview. “He said ‘Black is black. Right? You know what I mean? Black is black.’ And that really stuck. I knew what he meant then. And so he won me over there”, Peele had said on the subject. Kaluuya did the trick as the actor brought the right mix of courage, fear and warmth that was needed to portray Chris. Here’s a look at one great shot and five scenes of Get Out that makes it what it is–a great movie. And yes, Kaluuya features in nearly all of them.

Five perfect scenes

Cop asks for Chris Washington’s license

Within the first 30 minutes of the movie, director Peele drops one of the biggest clues to warn the audience about the dangers that lie ahead of Chris and about his seemingly perfect girlfriend Rose.

Chris and Rose are on their way to spend a few days at Rose’s parents’ place, located ideally in a charming and peaceful area closed off from the rest of the world. Oh, those houses in horror flicks.

But Rose hits a deer on the road during the drive. They are stopped by an officer, who conveniently asks the non-white boyfriend for his license. Rose sticks up for him and asks Chris not to give the identity proof to the cop, fights for him like a good girlfriend. But what Rose (SPOILERS ahead) is actually doing is making sure that they don’t leave a paper trail for the police to follow. Clever and smooth. Just like the rest of the movie. What is beautiful about the scene and the performances is that you buy Rose’s lie, and you don’t figure out what’s going on at all. Maybe, you suspect, but that’s about it.

No, No, No

“If there’s too many white people, I get nervous, you know”, Chris says during a discussion with the house-help Georgina. Betty Gabriel, who plays Georgina in the movie, is a terrific actor. I am tempted to use more adjectives, but it wouldn’t make for a smooth read. That’s how good she is. She especially excels in this one scene where her character tries to convince Daniel’s character, Chris, that the Armitage family is the perfect household. There is hysteria, some tears and a tension strong enough to cut through a million binders at once. The fear of being ‘discovered’ makes the scene truly memorable.

The Sunken Place

If you are familiar with writer Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, you will also be familiar with the famous words from the story that its protagonist Kurtz says in the novel–“The horror, the horror”. The Sunken Place scene from the film is reminiscent of those iconic words.

Peele had revealed in a tweet what he meant by the term. “The Sunken Place means we’re marginalized. No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us”, Peele had tweeted. In the scene, Missy Armitage (Catherine Keener), the shrink, hypnotises Chris, forcing him to return to ‘The Sunken Place’.

In the movie, the scene is depicted as a dark, ‘black’ hole of nothingness, where Chris struggles and floats helplessly. Missy manipulates Chris into believing that his mother’s death was his fault. Daniel is sublime in the scene as he sheds tears and fearfully yells, ‘Wait, wait, wait’ at Missy. The finality of Missy’s words – ‘Now you’re in the sunken place’ — is strong and scary. You are afraid for Chris, you are afraid of Missy, and you want Chris to get the hell out of that place.

Rod informs the police about Chris

After putting the pieces together and speaking earlier with Chris, his close friend Rod begins to worry for him when he doesn’t reach home after spending a couple of days with Rose’s family as he was supposed to. What follows sees Rod (played by the talented Lil Rel Howery) at his hilarious best, explaining to the cops about a mad cult and an extremely racist family, and that’s putting it mildly. What is interesting about the entire bit is that the situation is not amusing in the least.

Chris leaves Rose to die

Towards the end of the movie, Chris conquers all and despite killing Rose’s entire family, he cannot bring himself to murder her. And no, it really doesn’t have much to do with how much he loves her (maybe a bit), but according to one popular fan theory (and I am buying the fan’s interpretation), what makes the scene stand out even more is when you realise the worst way, according to Chris, for someone to die, is to leave them be.

One great shot

Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out

Yes, it is the shot when Chris begins to tear up in The Sunken Place scene and the camera closes in on his face. The shot is the visual representation of the phrase ‘heightened fear and sorrow’. It is breathtaking. You are scared. You are transfixed as it is just that beautiful.