Talk to Me

A Conversation Worth Having
Adam Valen Levinson
Freelance Movie Critic
      Wake up, goddammit!
      The voice of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene was a wake-up call to all within reach of his airwaves. He spoke for the unheard, telling it like it is, keeping it real. In the early 1960's, Greene talked hope into the forlorn at Langdon Correctional Facility near the nation's captial, finally talking his way out of jail and into a job at D.C.'s prominent WOL radio station. This voice is materialized by Don Cheedle (Ocean's, Hotel Rwanda), whose every muscle flexes with the soul of a man with something to say.
      Colorful clothes and colorful language adorn the film – Cheedle struts in full regalia of the Zeitgeist, his expletives kept in check by the comically straight-edged Martin Sheen. Dressed like disco kings, Petey and his fellow DJs were the rockstars of their city. Cedric the Entertainer's character Nighthawk (whose appearances were sadly infrequent) explains the public's attraction and his (confusingly short-lived) stardom, saying "it's not me, it's the voice". But stronger and more real than Nighthawk before him, Petey Greene's voice was used to inspire unity — a word found on the armbands of Reverend King's mourners.
      Kasi Lemmons' Talk to Me is in this way similar to Emilio Estevez's Bobby, which tells the story of another uniter, Robert Kennedy. Petey Greene and RFK were two voices that filled the anguished silence after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. Nick Cannon's character tells us that "Now that Dr. King is gone, nobody left but Bobby." And he might have been right, had not Petey Greene calmed the uncontrollable rioters on the other side of the continent. During the night of burning cars and broken windows, Greene corralled anyone with a radio into "P-town," the home of Petey's ideals, where the unified and the down-to-earth are welcome. At two in the morning, Peety emerges, reconnected, reunified with his former foes. On his way out, a weeping Martin Sheen reminds us of the broken city outside the station's walls, but the four men left standing together, having once fought with each other in all possible combinations, proves that the capital is not beyond repair.
      The yin to Petey's yang is Dewey Hewes, a dedicated, driven man who was raised in the projects by the voice of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. Chiwitel Ejiofor is Cheedle's equal on screen, just as Hughes is an essential force pulling and being pulled by Greene. Hughes says to Greene that "you need me to do things you're afraid to do," and adds, "and I need you to say the things I'm afraid to say." Talk to Me speaks to the scared and unconfident; when a man whose brothers have all ended up in jail takes a chance that might easily land him in the same place, we might learn a little something about putting it all on the line.
Lemmons didn't put it all on the soundtrack, though. We hear snippets of Otis Redding and Sam & Dave, but the film never immerses you in the music Greene plays on the radio. On the other hand, the original soundtrack is written and blown by Terence Blanchard and his trumpet. Blanchard, the most bountiful of jazz film-composers, rose to prominence in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and now offers his mellow, grooving sound to the film.
      The film is most definitely a journey —we travel through time as the characters age and mature. We become deeply involved with Petey and Hughes because Cheedle and Ejiofor's consummate portrayals. The film addresses a somber time with a light touch, bringing out the excitement of this city that has found a voice.
      Petey Greene was D.C.'s glue when it had cracked up in turbulent times. In Cheedle's eyes, we can see the power to realize his dream and pain, when he is pushed away from himself. "Talk to me," he would beckon to an on-air caller, connecting with them like no DJ before or since. Just like that, Lemmons — through Cheedle — will make him talk to you.

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Photo: Petey Greene made WOL his home for more than a decade.
Talk to Me
118 Minutes
Release Date: July 13, 2007