The Horrifying Reality of 'Sorry to Bother You'
Boots Riley's dark comedy is still relevant years later.
“Use your white voice,” Langston tells Cassius in Boots Riley’s film, Sorry to Bother You, as the latter struggles in his job as a telemarketer. “It’s not really a white voice, it’s what they wish they sounded like.” In these two quotes from the start of the film, it’s immediately made clear what themes this film will be exploring. However, the film really takes off from there and delves into places and ideas that no audience member can anticipate. The film is loaded with twists and turns, but none that feel out of place. All of its choices are done to further explain the film’s themes in a new way. Sorry to Bother You is a satirical comedy that blends genres to show the oppressive nature of our capitalist society.
At its core, Sorry to Bother You is a satirical comedy. The film is set in Oakland, which is where writer/director Boots Riley grew up. Thus, the world the film presents feels very real and tactile. But the film blends its naturalistic elements with elements that feel off. At the beginning of the film, Cassius, (played wonderfully by Lakeith Stanfield), is hired at his telemarketing job after being caught blatantly lying in his interview. He is told that his lie shows that he has initiative and that he can read, which is all they need for someone to do this job. Of course, this would never happen in the real world, however, by showing us this, it actually presents the same themes as the “white voice” way before that concept is introduced in the film. It presents this idea that if you want to get ahead in the world as a person of color, you cannot be yourself. Lying is what gets Cassius his job and it will continue to be his greatest skill throughout the rest of the film.
The film’s comedy leans more into the absurdist as it progresses. For example, whenever our main characters use their white voice their voices are dubbed over by that of white actors. In the case of the film’s protagonist, Cassius, his voice is dubbed over by that of David Cross. The voice sounds completely unnatural coming out of Stanfield’s mouth (A character even remarks that it sounds dubbed over), however, that is the point. It’s the start of Cassius abandoning his true self in order to grow in his ranks at work.
The third act of the film is not one to spoil, however, it is very integral to the film’s themes. In this universe, there is a megacorporation known as WorryFree in which people sign lifelong contracts to perform what many believe to be slave labor. The sequences where we see what happens in WorryFree are presented almost like the characters are in a prison. They sleep in bunk beds, eat silver tray meals, and live behind brick walls all to present this idea that society has fallen apart so horrifically in this world that people will voluntarily be imprisoned just to have work and eat three meals a day. But once we learn the inner workings of WorryFree and what its CEO, Steve Lift (a creepy performance by Armie Hammer), wants for his company, the film adds a horror element to it. There is a twist that may seem out of left field on first viewing, but there are many clues throughout the film’s first two acts that set up the eventual reveal. What this particular reveal does, however, is present this idea that Capitalism is something built entirely on the control of others and losing individuality. Worryfree is built on the idea that you need to sign your life away to be happy. Cassius can only progress in his work by hiding who he is. It’s a terrifying idea that Boots Riley presents in a very engaging way.