ONE OF THE FITNESS CLASSES I taught had a weird dynamic. Well, at least it was weird to me. It was one of my larger classes where the members filled the entire studio. Things have changed but some time ago, aerobic classes were filled predominantly with women; most men felt self-conscious, based on my own personal survey. I would try to coax them in when I was working out on the fitness floor, but they had this unwarranted fear that they would look “stupid” and be looked down upon by the class. The reason why I said this class had a weird dynamic was because it had several men in it. One man was six feet five inches tall, with a massive build; there was no way he could blend into class. I remember the first time he walked into the classroom. Like I did with any new person, I went up to talk to him. The reason he came in was because his wife was a participant in my class and told him he would be surprised by it. What I noticed most when he found a place to stand in class was how the members around him were looking and making eyes at each other. I knew that look; it was because of his size. I was sure they assumed he would not be able to do any of the exercises or moves. Unbeknownst to any of us, his wife gave him some pointers and he did fantastic. At the end of class, drenched in sweat, he came up and thanked me.      FROM THAT EXPERIENCE, I REMAINED ATTUNED to watching how participants reacted to new people in class. There was another man who started coming to the same class. From introducing myself to him, I discovered he purposely chose my class to attend because it incorporated more dance moves than other classes. Being thin and trim already, I soon realized some of the female members were always trying to stand close to him. It was amusing to me. His moves were smooth and always on the beat; I knew he had to have had some dance training, even if it was just going out to clubs at night. Where some of the members avoided the large man, others were striving to get close to this other man because of his looks. The reason I know this to be a fact is because he told me at some point a member was asking if he was single. This is the weird dynamic I was speaking of. Because I always focused on internal qualities like brains, humor, and empathy with dating prospects; I get fascinated when people express their desires for external things like height, hair and weight. Now here is the kicker; several months later this thin man disappeared from class and the fitness center. Then one day all the newspapers came out with a photograph of him on the front pages. He was arrested and charged with killing his roommate. One of my first thoughts was how ironic all of this became. As they say, “Never judge a book by its cover,” nor should one judge this historical drama by its cover.      WITH HIS MOTHER TAKEN AWAY AND his father abandoning him, a young boy soon realizes he would need to be the best he can be if he wanted to survive in a world, he was not meant to be in. With Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Monsters and Men, It Comes at Night) as Joseph, Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Snake Eyes) as Marie-Josephine, Lucy Boynton (Murder on the Orient Express, Bohemian Rhapsody) as Marie Antoinette, Ronke Adekoluejo (Been So Long, Christopher Robin) as Nanon and Marton Csokas (The Last Dual, The Equalizer) as Marquis De Montalembert; this film based on a factual story intrigued me deeply. Having been raised early on with classical music, I was stunned to find out there was truth to this story. The acting was right in synch with the character representation, especially from Kelvin. I will say I enjoyed the first half of the film more than the last half, simply because towards the end the script started becoming a generic version of itself and turning predictable. The script could have used more punch to keep things exciting as they were in the beginning. This was such a fascinating story, and I appreciated the extra knowledge offered before the ending credits.

3 stars