Uzo Aduba's 'Ms. Virginia' is an exercise in separating performance from politics
When taken at face value, Miss Virginia, which is based on the real activism of Virginia Walden Ford, is a great and inspiring movie. In it, Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black) portrays Virginia, who is a single mother to fifteen year old James (Niles Fitch). The film tells the story of Virginia's legislative journey as she testifies on behalf of her son's negative experience in the D.C. public school system.
Miss Virginia's talented cast and profound storyline communicate the importance of self-advocacy and community organizing when one feels forgotten and cast aside by their government and elected officials. Although its story is set in 2003, its message is timeless.
Audiences are introduced to Virginia as she makes her way into a meeting with James’ school principal where she learns her son has been skipping class on a regular basis; James attends a local public school in D.C. When Virginia pleads with the principal to go easy on James, he explains that because the school is already stretched thin for resources as it is, he needs to focus on the kids who “do want to be there,” rather than those who don’t. Although it's clear the D.C. public school system is failing her child, the film’s central theme makes itself known from that inciting meeting: Virginia is going to have to take matters into her own hands.
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After James is suspended for being involved in a physical altercation, Virginia enrolls him in a nearby private school on the condition that she can fork over a semester’s tuition a month after James matriculates. She smashes her piggy bank, skimps on name brand groceries, and takes on a night shift working as a janitor at her local Congresswoman’s office.
While working for Representative Lorraine Townsend (Aunjanue Ellis), Virginia gets the chance to speak face-to-face with one of her idols. Representative Townsend has been working to improve public education in the District for years — an issue that’s become incredibly personal for Virginia. However, Virginia’s proximity to the Congresswoman reveals that Townsend isn’t working for education reform with any urgency.
What follows is series of events based on the accomplishments that Walden Ford achieved as an education reform activist in D.C. throughout the 1990s and 2000s: Aduba’s Virginia bands together with a handful of parents that are dissatisfied with the quality of their local public high school and the fact that their elected representative, Congresswoman Lorraine Townsend (Aunjanue Ellis) is not making remedying the disparity a legislative priority.
It’s through community organizing and petitioning that Virginia and her contemporaries, Shondae (Amirah Vann) and Robert (Michael Beasley), bypass their Congresswoman’s hesitancy to push for radical change. Along the way, Virginia enlists the help of Congressman Cliff Williams (Matthew Modine), a representative that has been successful in enacting education reform in other inner-city districts, to take up her community’s case and introduce the D.C. Education Incentive Act in Congress.
Audiences have a rare opportunity to see Aduba excel in a leading role in Miss Virginia, and her performance is masterful.
Audiences have a rare opportunity to see Aduba excel in a leading role in Miss Virginia, and her performance is masterful. Aduba approaches the role with immense care, taking the time to portray the intricacies of her character’s complex emotions languidly. It would be easy to hide behind the film’s overwhelmingly uplifting storyline, but Aduba plays Virginia’s empowering combination of greenness and unwavering determination brilliantly and comprehensively, and creates a protagonist that the viewer staunchly and authentically roots for.
Alongside Aduba is a cast chock full of actors from some of this year’s hottest shows. You might recognize Fitch from This Is Us, Modine from Stranger Things, Ellis from When They See Us, and Vann from How To Get Away With Murder. Because Miss Virginia sees each actor in a role that is a departure from the characters we’ve seen them play most recently, the film puts their acting skills to the test -- and, boy, do they pass.
Fitch is a deserving scene partner of Aduba’s. The actor, who is only eighteen himself, matches Aduba’s energy and the two foster an emotional dynamic that creates a believable mother-son relationship. Fitch’s performance as James is nuanced and delicate. He simultaneously portrays the fifteen year old as impulsive as his age suggests, and as a young man with a big heart.
During scenes in which James is too timid to do the right thing, that internal struggle is conveyed superbly via the look in Fitch’s eyes. His performance communicates that James hasn’t yet been hardened by the world he lives in, contributing strongly to Miss Virginia’s overall message of hope and perseverance in the face of all-consuming adversity.
Modine's performance is solid as well. His kooky Congressman figure and Aduba’s headstrong Virginia make a lovable odd couple who work together to save the day. Movie magic pairs the two together, but Modine’s Cliff Williams appears to represent the handful of legislators the real Virginia Walden Ford worked with during her tenure fighting for education reform.
Indeed, it’s the woman that Aduba’s character is based on and the initiatives that Walden Ford spearheaded have become that have been the subject of controversy and confusion upon Miss Virginia’s release. The Washington Post reports that the Moving Picture Institute, the non-profit organization behind the film, “has the financial backing of the Mercer Family Foundation, a powerhouse donor to Republicans.” More explicitly, the film has been called “another attempt by... privatizers to influence the national education agenda” by New York public school parents. On the contrary, Walden Ford states that the film is “not political.”
In such a divided time, the revelation of potential ulterior, ostensibly political motives behind a truly affecting, powerful, and downright enjoyable movie leaves a slightly bad taste in one’s mouth. Nonetheless, even though tour de force biopics aren’t safe from partisan issues, Miss Virginia will hopefully act as unequivocal proof of the acting prowess of the cast involved, and as a platform to raise its stars, Aduba and Fitch, up toward more leading roles.
Miss Virginia is available for streaming on iTunes and is playing in select theaters.
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Tricia is an editorial fellow on Mashable's entertainment team. She is from Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Bates College in May. When it comes to covering entertainment news, she loves writing stories from social, political, and cultural angles.
