that Tom Cruise screaming off the deckrnof the USS America in his F-14 in ToprnGun was still fresh in the memories ofrnmany of these yoimg men. Wlio needsrn(or wants) the infantry, with all its mudrnslogging, sweating, mosquito-infestedrnstoop labor? Not these guys. In additionrnto being disappointed, I was honestly surprised.rnI thought of my time on activernduty as an infantry officer at Fort Bragg,rnmerrily jumping out of airplanes, and laterrnin West Germany during the good ol’rndays of the Cold War: from my brigaderncommanders to my battalion commanders,rncompany commanders, and fellowrnlieutenants. Southerners dominated thatrnbranch of the Army. That was some 15rnyears ago, but had the perception of thernArmy (especially the infantry) changedrnthat much in so relatively short a time?rnMaybe I got out while the getting wasrnshll good.rnFour o’clock came faster than I hadrnexpected. We turned in our evaluationrnof our last candidate. Of the nine we hadrninterviewed, the two thoroughbreds whornreally wanted Annapolis were at the toprnof our list. My favorite, Steven, was rightrnin the middle at number five. Jack, he ofrnthe “b” remark, was dead last. The chairmanrntook the packets and turned themrnover to the congressman’s secretar’. Wernshook hands all around and said wernwould look forward to getting togetherrnthe next year for the same drill. The secretaryrnthanked us on behalf of the congressmanrnand we walked to our cars.rnThe realtor lady was suddenly at my side.rn”I know you were upset about thernranking Steve got, but sometimes even ifrnthese kids don’t get what they want, everythingrnturns out OK in the end.” I justrnsmiled as I got into my car and said,rn”Same time, next year,” and she waved tornmc as she walked to her Mercedes.rn(Wait a minute. Her old man owns arnBuick dealership!)rnRegarding our candidates, the two Annapolisrnmen went on their way to Mar’-rnland. One quit after two weeks, whilernthe other graduated and went into thernsubmarine service. Ted, our first candidate,rnended up at the University of NorthrnCarolina; upon graduahon, he enrolledrnin the law school. Steven did not get arncongressional appointment, but a senatorialrnone from Je.sse Helms. He struggledrnfor his first two years at West Point butrnhung in there and graduated two yearsrnago. He is now a tank platoon leader inrnthe First Infantry Division at Fort Riley,rnKan.sa.s. I never heard anything fnrtlier ofrnthe rest of the candidates. Not even Jack.rnCould he possibly have run afoul of anotherrn”bitch”?rnLet’s hope so.rnChris Timmers writes from Matthews,rnNorth Carolina.rnAnotherrnNative Sonrnby Michael WashburnrnThe KeeperrnProduced by Michelle SilversteinrnWritten and Directed by foe BrewsterrnReleased by Kino InternationalrnToe Brewster’s film The Keeper camernJ out while New York was reeling fromrnthe ease of Abner Louirna, the Haitianrnimmigrant beaten and tortured by whiterncops in Brooklyn. Coincidentally, hisrnmovie is about wayward corrections officersrn—but the officers are black, notrnwhite. Shot for a mere $150,000, withoutrnhelp from a major studio, The Keeperrnis the most brutally honest film to daternabout life inside prison —in this case,rnKings County Jail, where Brewster, anrnindependent black director, used to workrnas a psychiatrist. Portraying the attitudesrnand behavior of black cops and guards,rnThe Keeper parallels the work of RichardrnWright, who saw a white society and justicernsystem incurably hostile to the faceless,rnviolent underclass. The film pointsrnto an ever more visible divide betweenrnminorities who have assimilated to somerndegree and those who have not.rnFilmed mostly at Kings County Jail,rnthe movie opens with several officers interrogafingrnJean Baptiste, a Haitian immigrantrnarrested after a black womanrn(apparently strung out on drugs) accusedrnhim of raping her. Stubbornly protestingrnhis innocence, Jean is hauled off to a cellrnto await trial, whereupon he tries to hangrnhimself only to be saved at the last secondrnby Paul Lamont, a black correctionsrnofficer and law student. After talkingrnwith the woman who accused Jean, Paulrnbecomes convinced of the man’s innocencernand raises the money to bail himrnout of jail. Alienated from his family,rnJean moves in with Paul and his wife Angela,rnwho is at first scared but then enthralledrnby this quiet Haitian with his interestrnin voodoo and bizarre rituals.rnSuperstitious, mysterious, and aloof,rnJean is clearly out of place in the modern,rnconcrete world, unlike Paul, who —rnin spite of having a Haitian immigrantrnfather—has assimilated well and is workingrntoward a law degree.rnAt Kings County Jail, Paul Lamont isrnthe exception to the rule —guards andrncorrections officers are cynical, embittered,rnand brutal. The prison staff knowsrnall too well how ineffective criminal justicernis and how futile the idea of reform.rnThe staffs attitudes are summed up by arnblack officer named Clarence Ross, whornguards the prison’s law library. Duringrnhis shift, Clarence wonders aloud whatrndrives black men to bash an old womanrnin the head for $2.50 and a subwayrntoken. To him, the blacks who passrnin and out of the jail’s doors are “hopeless.”rnWhen a black Muslim inmaternprotests, “You don’t even know me,”rnClarence retorts, “No, but I know a thousandrnmotherf-—s like you. I’m fromrnBrownsville. I know you’d rather hit myrnmama in the head for a nickel than workrnfor a nickel.” (Imagine a white officerrnbeing so candid.)rnThough they are minorities themselves,rnthe guards have given up regardingrnthe prisoners as anything more thanrnsavage Bigger Thomases. It’s not hard tornunderstand the despair of guards who seernthe prison population swelling and frequentrneruptions of violence from the inmates.rn(The game of criminal justice,rnBrewster seems to believe, is rigged. Thernprison’s elderly exterminator admits tornPaul late one night that he deliberatelyrnfails to do his job, letting rats go after herncatches them to ensure that he will alwaysrnhave a source of income—an interestingrnmetaphor for the criminal justicernbureaucracy itself.)rnBut Paul wants to be fair-minded. Hernhas enough faith in Jean’s character torndisbelieve the rape charge and to let Jeanrnnear his wife. Jean, it turns out, is quite arncharmer, with knowledge of Frenchrnsongs and Creole recipes. His interestsrnalso include strange voodoo rituals,rnwhich he and his friends enact beforernPaul and Angela. As she grows alienatedrnMARCH 1998/43rnrnrn