Straw Movie Review
The Netflix movie Straw is an emotional story to watch. It portrays Janiyah, a character acted by Taraji P. Henson. Being a single parent, she is always working hard to care for her child. She does everything she can, but the bad things still continue to visit her.
Janiyah’s daughter is in poor health at the moment. At one point, the girl tells the man she has to spend $40 on school lunch. If she doesn’t come up with the payment, the school will embarrass her in public. This comment is very painful for me. At the same moment, her landlord tells her she will be evicted if she does not make a rent payment.
Janiyah is working at three different jobs, yet she does not earn enough to cover her expenses. Her supervisor is not polite and refuses to help her. Even if someone else causes the mess, Janiyah has to clean it up. Soon after, she wants to receive her salary ahead of time, only to hear that it cannot be done.
The situation only gets worse after that. The officer screams and threatens her over a little issue. They remove her car from her. The landlord throws everything of hers out of the house and on the road. She is pulled from school by her parents. It appears as if everything she treasures is falling to pieces.
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When things get bad for her, Janiyah asks her boss for her wages. Near the shop, some robbers begin their crime. One man attacks Janiyah, but she is strong enough to fight him off. She gets the robber’s gun and protects herself. However, instead of saying thanks, her boss puts the blame on her. He assumes she was helping the robbers just because she remembers the name one of them mentioned. I just saw her name tag as the robber made away with the money!
When her boss calls the police, Janiyah becomes very angry and scared. She shoots him, too. Now things are out of control. Later, when she goes to the bank to cash her check, people think she’s trying to rob the bank. A big problem starts outside the bank.
The story becomes more serious. People outside begin to protest. Some believe Janiyah is a criminal, others say she is just a tired mom who needs help. The movie shows how hard it can be for poor people, especially Black women, to live a normal life.
Taraji P. Henson does an amazing job in this movie. You can feel her pain, her love for her child, and her fight to stay strong. Even when everything is against her, she keeps going.
Sherri Shepherd plays a kind bank manager. Teyana Taylor is a police officer who tries to help Janiyah. Both actors do a good job, even though their roles are small. The acting is strong, and the feelings are real.
But the movie has problems. Tyler Perry, who wrote and directed the film, keeps showing pain and sadness. His movies often show Black women suffering, and it feels too much sometimes. It’s like he wants to make them hurt all the time. That’s not fair.
There are also some strange parts. The weather changes suddenly. It rains out of nowhere. Time moves fast and slow. Some scenes don’t make sense. The movie tries to say a lot about money, healthcare, racism, and mental health, but it doesn’t go deep enough.
Still, this is one of Tyler Perry’s better movies. The story is sad, but powerful. The actors do their best. Taraji P. Henson makes the movie worth watching.
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At one point, a protester holds a sign that says, “Nevertheless, she persisted.” That means, no matter what, she didn’t give up. That’s who Janiyah is. A woman who tries, falls, hurts, but keeps going.
In the end, Straw is not a happy movie, but it is strong. It shows what happens when people are pushed too far. It shows how one small thing can break a person. And it shows how strong a mother’s love can be.
