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The Rachel Divide

  • 2018
  • TV-MA
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
The Rachel Divide (2018)
Rachel Dolezal becomes a social phenomenon when she passes herself off as an African American and becomes the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter.
Play trailer2:17
1 Video
8 Photos
Documentary

Rachel Dolezal becomes a social phenomenon when she passes herself off as an African American and becomes the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter.Rachel Dolezal becomes a social phenomenon when she passes herself off as an African American and becomes the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter.Rachel Dolezal becomes a social phenomenon when she passes herself off as an African American and becomes the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter.

  • Director
    • Laura Brownson
  • Writers
    • Laura Brownson
    • Jeff Gilbert
  • Stars
    • Rachel Dolezal
    • Franklin Dolezal
    • Izaiah Dolezal
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    2.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Laura Brownson
    • Writers
      • Laura Brownson
      • Jeff Gilbert
    • Stars
      • Rachel Dolezal
      • Franklin Dolezal
      • Izaiah Dolezal
    • 55User reviews
    • 15Critic reviews
    • 59Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:17
    Trailer

    Photos7

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    Top cast33

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    Rachel Dolezal
    Rachel Dolezal
    • Self - Former President NAACP, Spokane Washington
    Franklin Dolezal
    Franklin Dolezal
    • Self - Rachel's Son
    Izaiah Dolezal
    • Self - Rachel's Son
    Esther Dolezal
    • Self - Rachel's Sister
    Jeff Humphrey
    • Self - Local Television Reporter
    Shawn Vestal
    • Self - Local Journalist
    Kitara Johnson
    • Self - NAACP Member
    Latoya Brackett
    • Self - NAACP Member
    Sandra Williams
    • Self - Local Journalist
    Siobhan Abrams
    • Self - Rachel's Friend
    Ezra Dolezal
    • Self - Rachel's Brother
    Langston Dolezal
    • Self - Rachel's Infant Son
    Albert Wilkerson
    • Self - Father Figure
    Ronnie Gladden
    • Self - Professor
    Storms Reback
    • Self - Co-Author
    Vanessa Bayer
    Vanessa Bayer
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Tim Black
    Tim Black
    • Self
    Tamar Braxton
    Tamar Braxton
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    • Director
      • Laura Brownson
    • Writers
      • Laura Brownson
      • Jeff Gilbert
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews55

    6.32.8K
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    Featured reviews

    tetrahex

    Artist with poor personal judgement remakes herself as a way of dealing with her personal demons

    It was interesting to see the back story of someone who would go this far to disassociate themselves from reality. But in a way you can see that she's not fallen as far from the tree as she imagines, the white savior like her parents, adopting black children, just in a different way, fueled by religious fervor of a moral crusade. Her artistic skill is surprisingly good, its a shame she wasted it to become part of the diversity and grievance industry. But that's the thing this film reveals, she can barely fix her own life let alone anyone elses, a single mother, divorced, saddled with many children, while divorced has another child against the fathers wishes while she has no job. Is she trying to live an ugly stereotype and bring it to life? The doc does fail to really delve deeper into what she got herself into, the vast infrastructure of the diversity industry. How this nobody became a NAACP branch president, where did they get their money, how was she teaching courses in colleges? The vast flows of money to create these human networks of diversity propagandists is something a netflix doc is never going to deal with, and that's too bad, because it destroys lives, not just Rachels, but those it indoctrinates with the poison of a history and identity of grievance. She might have been a decent artist, maybe even a history teacher, if she had not tried to be what she was not and had spent her time on herself rather than trying to be the white savior. When she joined the game of identity politics she learned the lesson that the content of her character meant nothing. That is the lesson of her life, and this film.
    4cookie666

    A below average Netflix documentary

    While Rachel's story is interesting and raises many valid questions about race and identity, the viewer doesn't actually learn much about these topics. As a staple of Netflix documentaries, The Rachel Divide includes virtually no expert opinions or historical background or even contextual information - I would've loved to hear what actual scholars and researchers of race or identity think about this issue! - all we get is Rachel sharing her feelings and long scenes of her doing chores or talking to her family. And then of course a bunch of clips of people angrily reacting to the whole issue.

    I think it's a massive missed opportunity and although the ending desperately wants to ask the viewer "well what do you think?" there is almost nothing to base our opinions on.
    6Jeremy_Urquhart

    A difficult documentary

    Gets off to a rough start, because for the first 20 or so minutes, it doesn't really present criticisms of its subject, doesn't provide much of her background at all, and really seems to just follow her around her life and make her seem sympathetic.

    I found her actions were a little more understandable (though perhaps sympathetic would be a stretch) when the background context was finally provided, and they do have interviewees and stock footage (eventually) to show how and why Black people have a problem with her actions. I think they could have gone a little harder with showing more of these criticisms, but it is interesting to balance that with some sympathetic moments and leave it up to the audience to decide.

    It's the fact that she is the first high profile person to commit to being "trans race" that makes her case unprecedented and divisive. I can recognise she doesn't think that choice was harmful, but in cases like this, I think you do have to listen to what others say, and if a good number of Black people give good reasons as to why they have a problem with it, you should listen and stop doing the offending behaviour.

    Still, the multiple perspectives and fairly neutral tone of the documentary did make it a little more interesting. Otherwise, the slow start and competent but unimpressive presentation does weigh it down a bit.

    Like all documentaries about controversial subjects, I could definitely understand someone watching this and hating every minute of it, but for me personally, I thought it a solid, sometimes quite interesting, but certainly far from great watch about a topic/subject that, to my knowledge, no other film or documentary has covered.
    6adamsandel

    Sad story

    Poor thing is addicted to persecution and keeps seeking it out. I feel really bad for her black teenage sons who she keeps dragging through it.
    6naheedence

    6.5 for documentary length, 7 for actual documentary

    This documentary is well done and shows many sides of the saga of Rachel Dolezol. The saddest part of this story is how much her children suffer and because of her delusions and narsissm she cannot relate to what they are going through. She cares more about how she feels. Mental help for her and her boys would be very helpful. I liked seeing the perspectives of black folks who were apalled by her appropriation of black culture. I think her background tells us a lot about why she became who she is today. However, it was disturbing and focused on her book so much I wish it was shorter.

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    Documentary

    Storyline

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    • Quotes

      Franklin: All my mom did is say she was black and people just lost their minds

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    FAQ14

    • How long is The Rachel Divide?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 27, 2018 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 黑白瑞秋
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 40m(100 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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