As part of their short series for the day, the Toronto Black Film Festival showcased The Burglar, written and directed by Xander Copp and produced by Jade Robertson.
This was a well-done Canadian submission set in a downtown Toronto condo. The lead character, Don, comes home to find his condo had been broken into. He takes the burglar hostage only to find out it was his old high school bully Marcus. After a tussle, police mistake the Black man as the burglar. Following a pursuit the remorseful Marcus returns the items he stole and when questioned by police, Don stays loyal to his “friend” deciding not to snitch.
Race and class were undertones which you don’t usually see in a story like this. Typical stereotypes are turned on their head as Don (a Black man) had made it, and Marcus (a white man) not so much. The acting by Emmanuel Kabongo (Don) and Jaime Mackzo (Marcus) were precise and the action scenes were very well executed.
The message of putting the past behind you is not always an easy one to swallow but necessary to find peace or at least to face your next steps. Viewers are in for an action packed, 12 minutes with The Burglar.
