Based on her wonderfully researched book, “Proudly We Served” and her PBS documentary of the same name, Mary Pat Kelly’s “Proud” tells the story of the men of the World War II destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Mason. In what was then a segregated Navy, the Mason was the only ship manned by a black crew (albeit with white officers) to see combat. Decades later, President Clinton gave a presidential commission to the surviving crew members – long overdue compensation for the commendation they had been recommended for during the War, but were never awarded. Old-fashioned, as befits the period, in its storytelling methods, “Proud” is a memory piece, narrated by Lorenzo DuFau (Ozzie Davis), once a sailor on the Mason. DuFau tells the story of his and his shipmates’ wartime experience to his grandson and two of the young man’s college friends. As they listen to DuFau’s tale, they are carried back in time and transformed into sailors on the Mason. Thus the film has something of the magic of a fairy tale or legend, which doesn’t mean that Kelly pulls any punches when showing the racism that the Mason’s crew had to fight every day. (Amy Taubin)

Director: Mary Pat Kelly