A gay black man exiled to France at an early age, James Baldwin became the greatest American essayist of the 20th century. Director Raoul Peck celebrates Baldwin’s rich legacy by immersing us in his impactful, soaring words (voiced here by Samuel L. Jackson). Framed as a letter to a publisher, pitching his (never-completed) book about fallen leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers, the writer’s eloquent meditations on race and class remain painfully, powerfully relevant in this era of Black Lives Matter. Baldwin also proves to be a scholar of cinema, unpacking the petty prejudices that fueled the Dream Machine. To see Baldwin on The Dick Cavett Show is to confront the inability of white America to come to terms with its brutal history and troubled present. This Oscar-nominated film is a revelatory prophesy, underscoring the unfulfilled promise of our American Dream. (PS)