Man on Fire
On the morning of June 23, 2014, Charles Moore, an elderly white minister, traveled to his hometown of Grand Saline, TX and waited in an empty parking lot for hours. Around five pm that evening, he got out of his car and put a couch cushion in front of him, fell to his knees, doused himself in gasoline, and committed self-immolation. A note on his car windshield, titled “O Grand Saline Repent of Your Racism,” said that he decided to die to honor the Black people who were lynched in Grand Saline before him.
He wanted to force the town to react to his death.
Man on Fire tracks Moore’s last day of life to question why he chose such an extremist death and interrogates the history–and legacy–of racism for this small town in East Texas.
Man on Fire won an International Documentary Association Award in 2017; premiered at the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival in 2018; screened at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, and more; and had its television premiere on PBS on December 17, 2018, as a part of Independent Lens.
Below are some reviews of the film:
In Loco Parentis
More to say soon 🙂
James Chase Sanchez, Ph.D. 