The Black Character's Fate In 'Armageddon Time' Is 'Vexing.' That's The Director's Point.

Johnny, left, and Paul, right, are at the center of James Gray's semi-autobiographical film "Armageddon Time." Joyce / Focus Features “You can be oppressed, but at the same time you’re oppressed, you are an oppressor,” Gray said. The elder Trump informs Paul and his classmates that they are “the elite.” Paul, meanwhile, only tells his new classmates that Johnny is somebody from his old school: “I don’t really know him.” You couple that moment with Paul telling his grandpa that he did “obviously nothing” when the kids at his new school said bad words about Black kids. The system is punishing to.” The film illustrates Gray’s complacency then, and as he puts it, it shows “the ease with which white people can and do marginalize and ignore the lives and experiences of Black people.” Director of photography Darius Khondji, left, and Gray on the set of "Armageddon Time." Anne Joyce / Focus Features That said, where does that leave Paul’s consciousness by the end of “Armageddon Time”?