Clay, the lead character in “The Dutchman,” is having a hellish night in New York City, the kind of night that could end his life or change it in gravely material ways. One person he encounters advises him to “heed the warnings of those before you, so your fate can be different.” And thus this adaptation of Amiri Baraka’s celebrated 1964 play, “Dutchman,” about race and Black identity, announces its intention to offer an alternate, updated interpretation of a seminal text. The film adds modern references and takes place in the present, but its treatment of the play’s themes remains murky and marred by an inability to let go
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