Some stories demand to be told — not just once, but again and again, until the echoes of their truths are impossible to ignore. The Nickel Boys, the adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is one such story.
Director RaMell Ross approached this harrowing history with a unique vision, shaping a film that is as poetic as it is devastating. The film, which explores the trauma experienced by young Black boys at a reform school in the 1960s, resonates deeply as it brings to life a painful chapter in American history while questioning how far we’ve come in addressing the legacy of racial injustice.
One of the film’s most striking elements is its use of first-person perspective, a rare technique in cinema. Ross, who previously employed a similar approach in his documentary “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” uses this as a way to place the audience inside the story.
“I always ask who and what the camera is,” Ross shared. “The first-person perspective allows us to view history through the eyes of the boys, granting them the same power of vision that we have contemporaneously. It positions the audience as both witnesses and participants.”
This invitation provides an intimate perspective for viewers to experience the young boy’s journey as though we are standing alongside him, feeling the weight of his struggles and triumphs firsthand.
Ethan Herisse, who plays Elwood, delves deeply into his character’s emotional journey. Through his performance, the audience feels the profound impact of systemic racism and abuse. Reflecting on some of the most difficult scenes in the film, Ethan said, “The ‘White House’ scene and the sweatbox scene were both challenging to bring to life. Both are very harrowing moments for Elwood, so there were a lot of difficult emotions to explore while shooting these scenes.”
Ethan Herisse (left) and Brandon Wilson star in “Nickel Boys.”Credit: Amazon Studios
Brandon Wilson, who portrays Turner, brings a quiet strength to his role, portraying a young man who forms a deep friendship with Elwood despite the grim circumstances they face. Turner’s relationship with Elwood provides a thread of hope amid the despair and highlights the enduring human spirit. Wilson’s performance powerfully conveys the emotional weight of his character’s struggles and his complex journey toward both survival and self-realization.
Despite the heavy subject matter, Ross emphasized that the film intentionally refrains from over-exposing violent scenes of abuse. Instead, the director opted to convey the horror through sound and reaction shots, keeping the focus on the emotional impact rather than graphic depictions of violence.
“If you take the point of view of the characters, were the boys watching each other being whipped? No,” Ross explained. “They were hearing it, reacting to it. Overexposing suffering on screen can sometimes risk turning it into entertainment rather than empathy.”
This decision reflects Ross’s belief in the importance of empathy over spectacle, and his determination to avoid perpetuating violent imagery of Black suffering in cinema. “We already have those images in our heads,” he said. “We don’t need to see them again to understand the trauma.”
The team’s choices extend beyond the film’s visual techniques. Intentional changes were made to the script, such as altering the character of Mr. Blakely, who was originally white in the novel but is portrayed by black actor Gralen Bryant Banks in the film.
“We wanted a figure in the school that was relatable for Elwood,” Ross explained, “but someone who, despite similar experiences, saw things differently. He believes he’s doing right by the boys, which adds another layer of complexity to the story.”
Throughout the film, archival photos of the real boys who endured the horrors of the Dozier School appear, sourced from the University of South Florida’s research and the Florida Memory Project. These haunting images of real children deepen the emotional resonance of the film.
“When we first came across those images, they were so striking and haunting,” Ross said. “Why not use them? Instead of recreating their pain, we gave them a second life by allowing their real faces to be seen.”
The story of the “Nickel Boys” bears eerie similarities to the real-life experiences of young men who were sent to the Mesabi Academy in Minnesota, a facility that was notorious for its abuse of Black boys. Mesabi Academy was closed down after decades of allegations and reports of physical and psychological abuse, much like the fictional institution depicted in the film.
The parallels between the abusive treatment of boys at these institutions and the experiences of Elwood and his friends are stark. Like the boys in ‘“Nickel Boys,” those sent to Mesabi Academy were often caught in a system that treated them as less than human, subjecting them to cruelty in the name of “reform.” In both the real and fictional worlds, the trauma of institutional abuse continues to haunt the survivors, highlighting the need for a reckoning with these dark chapters of history.
“The key to Elwood is the love that his Grandma Hattie raised him with,” Ethan explained. “That love is really what makes Elwood the kind, optimistic, graceful, intelligent kid that he is. Personally, I was able to connect to that — I’m fortunate to say that I have been raised with an abundance of love in my life from my family.”
The friendship between Elwood and Turner is at the heart of “Nickel Boys,” and it provides a thread of hope amid the despair. The actors’ collaboration was key in creating this emotional connection. “No singular collaboration stands out above the rest,” Ethan shared. “Ramell has an amazing spirit and leaned into the collaborative process, trusting everyone, cast and crew, as much as we trusted him.”
In one of the film’s unscripted moments, Elwood is seen touching a spider web while visiting Boot Hill, a seemingly small but significant gesture that speaks volumes about his curiosity and humanity. “That moment was not scripted,” Ethan explained. “Knowing Elwood as a present and curious person, it just felt right to be drawn to the web.” Such moments of quiet beauty serve as poignant reminders that even in the midst of suffering, there are moments of grace, tenderness and wonder.
Ultimately, The Nickel Boys is an act of reclamation, a means of bearing witness to a painful history and a call for accountability. By fusing truth with art, Ross crafts a work that tells a story, and reverberates through time, demanding remembrance, reckoning, and reflection.
As Ethan noted, the process of making the film, despite its sadness, was also about appreciation —“appreciation for the opportunity to bring this history to life.” Through the lens of the boys, we are called to look at our own history, confront its injustices, and, perhaps most importantly, honor those whose stories have too often been silenced.
