You never really know what the next person is going through, until they’ve reached their breaking point.

Tyler Perry’s latest dramatic project is the  Netflix film  Straw, which delves into the world of Janiyah, played by Taraji P. Henson, a single mother who is just doing her best to get by and survive a day that spirals into chaos.
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Taraji puts her all into bringing to life a character that suffers through a day no one would wish on their worst enemy, from being evicted to experiencing a terrifying police encounter and getting fired from her job.

At the end of it all, she snaps.

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“All humans want to be seen and that was her struggle. Because she was going through so much, she felt very much alone and it was beautiful to know. It’s unfortunate that she had to go through so much and to be pushed to her breaking point for her to finally be seen and it was by two other incredible Black women.

“I think that gave her a reason to live because after a while it’s like, ‘why am I even here?’ That’s why its important humans are seen … For someone to say, ‘I see you, I understand’, can save a life,” Taraji says.

The many layers of Black women

Written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry, the famed filmmaker is no stranger to highlighting the plight of Black women and the struggles they face in their daily lives.

Tyler is known for hit films like Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Mea Culpa, Why Did I Get Married? and more.
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With many of the themes in his films exploring the good, the bad and ugly that Black women have to face on a daily, many people critique the consistently heavy and traumatising experiences Black women are subjected to in his films.

This is what Tyler had to say about those critiques.

“I say nothing to those people who think that my films focus on the struggle of Black women because they’re right, it does. Let me tell you something, if I get an opportunity to put a Black woman onscreen for people to see them in love, happy, in joy, in pain, in struggle – what I’m doing is a service to all people, so that people will know that Black women are not just strong and one thing. They’re all things and they go through all of these different things.

“So, to have an opportunity to be able to paint all of these pictures and all sides of us is something that I’m paying homage to my mother, to my aunt, to my sisters and friends and cousins and the things they all went through, so that’s what I’ll say to that.

When it comes to Straw, Tyler says, “[Janiyah] says in the film, ‘Nobody sees me’, well, this is about people seeing this group of people who everybody has ignored for so long.”
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I had to commit to what was on the page, commit to the choices I made and believe it. And then I had the guidance of this great mind here, Tyler Perry, who makes me feel uninhibited. When I get on his set, I feel nurtured and I feel safe and when I’m safe, I’ll take risks.

Taraji P. Henson

The littlest support can save a life

Taraji’s character is supported by phenomenal performances by actors Sherri Shepherd and Teyana Taylor, who play the bank manager Nicole who has been taken hostage by Janiyah and Detective Raymond, the officer negotiating with her, respectively.

Sherri tells us more about what resonated with her about her character.

“The fact that my character, Nicole, actually saw Janiyah and she left where she was working at before in an affluent area to come down to the neighbourhood because she wanted to make a difference and here was a woman walking in who just had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

“And I remember there was a line where I said, ‘I see you, I know you and I’ve seen you walk in here with your daughter’, and how we connected in our motherhood lane. I wanted to get home to my family, and I wanted her to get home to her family. There had to be a way to work this out, so to be able to connect with Detective Raymond and see her calm down. So, it was just like, in that moment of connection, sisterhood. I love anything about sisterhood, so it was a sisterhood connection for me.”

Teyana’s character, Detective Raymond, becomes a lifeline for Janiyah. Teyana explains, “We’ve seen these type of women, we’ve been these type of women, we are these type of women. So, it’s easy to put your sauce on it when it’s just like, wow, to be a mother and to know that you would do anything for your baby, how can you not dive into that as a mother? How can you not dive into these characters as a Black woman? In spaces we don’t feel seen and things like that.

“So, this role I wouldn’t even say was challenging, it was more of an exhale. It was really a safe space to be able to really take my cape off and feel and be okay with not being okay and putting that all into this character.”