Roots

Hi, my name is Sacha, I'm 16 years old, I'm a french guy from Angers. I like watching History movies. Before I watch Roots, I though it was boring movie, without epic or moving scenes. The movie is about Kunta Kinte, the main character, who is captured by an african rival clan, and gave to British; we follow his history from Africa to The United States where he is sold.

During the movie, Malacky Kirby and Forest Whitaker are awesome, their acting is very interesting and moving, they managed to transmit strong emotions, by their faces, how they speak. Ht emovie was realized Will Packer and Marc Toberoff in 2016. In general, I find the movie is well realized, but there are a little of low scene, a little boring.There are period where it's a little low. In return, the soundtrack is just amazing! The traditional songs are awesome, they are moving, they beautify the scenes. For me Roots is a wonderful, fabulous, moving and beautiful movie, but also with some slow scenes and a little boring. The African culture is incredibly well done. Finally I recommend this movie, I hope you'll like it.

What to make of this much-heralded remake of the Alex Haley classic? It has a lot going for it - a starry cast led by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Malachi Kirby, Forrest Whittaker and Lawrence Fishburne; atmospheric photography Peter Menzies jr. and Sharone Meir; and an authentic production design by Ida Random, David Barkham and Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson.

Yet the overall impression of this four-parter is one of blandness; a sense that the directors Bruce Beresford, Phillip Noyce, Mario van Peebles and Thomas Carter are simply retelling the story without any feeling for its historical significance. There are too many dramatic set-pieces strongly reminiscent of TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE, especially when the African American characters are assaulted by their white masters, while the settings (a plantation; the white slave-owner's house; the cattle-market) are shot in such a way - using bright light accompanied by atmospheric music - as to encourage the belief that we are watching a pared-down version of the Steve McQueen film.

The narrative lumbers on throughout each episode, with a pronounced lack of dramatic incident. The directors seem to have been so concerned with atmosphere (or lack thereof), that they have not really encouraged the actors to flesh out their roles. Too often we see performers simply going through the motions of performing with little concern for historical verisimilitude.

This is a real shame, because the idea to remake ROOTS seemed in principle to be such a good one, as a way of reminding viewers that the racial conflicts taking place in the antebellum United States have still not been resolved today. What a shame, therefore, that the creative personnel involved in this miniseries failed to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

First, I admit I don't remember seeing the first Roots. I may have when I was young but I don't remember it and I've never read the book so I came into the story with no presuppositions. Even though this is a work of fiction (that Mr Haley apparently plagiarized) it is a work of fiction based in historical fact. Like many incredible works of literature or film the thread of the story may be fiction but it's set in a very real period in history.

All that to say, I'm astonished by some of the reviews on this board. It seems some want a polished up version of history, a Gone With the Wind version that is still ugly if you look close enough at the nuances of the story. The truth is, humans were stolen from their homes and the only world they had ever known or seen and then their traffickers sold them like they were livestock or furniture or maybe even less. They had no rights and every single thing - especially their dignity - was stripped from them. They were dropped into a world they didn't understand or recognize, without even the fortune of common language. This isn't some made up perspective to suit the politics of Black Lives Matter or anything else, it is fact.

If a movie were set in the early 1940's in Germany and the story was about a Jewish family who were actually treated decently by their "Christian" jailers while they were living in a concentration camp, that showed some good sides to the camp as well, everyone would RIGHTFULLY be appalled. But here? No, it seems some want to polish up this ugly stain of American history and call it decoration rather than what it was - horrific.

Okay, so now that I got that off my chest... I found myself crying through many parts of this miniseries and gripped by the injustices at every step. I wanted some happy endings too but only because I was drawn in and rooting for the main characters, but I also realize that happy endings rarely happened during this era for Africans and African Americans and as they rarely had control over their own lives they must have had to deal with the emptiness of unfinished stories, unanswered questions, the sickness of not knowing what happened to their loved ones when they were stolen or violated or sold off. As the viewer I felt that pain and I empathized with the main characters. The apathy and sometimes hatred coming from the slave owners and traders and the way one sin would lead to another and to another so even those with some sense of decency were quick to treat black people as less than and not equal to as soon as they felt threatened or to feel better about their standing in society. This Roots was more The Kitchen House than Gone with the Wind, as viewers we benefit from that fact.

The production and settings were gorgeous and the actors were as well. I thought this was a beautiful telling of a most terrible time.

This show is absolutely brilliant. It really shows America's sad and dark history with slavery. The beginning sort of reminded me of the Amistad movie starring Djimon Hounsou and Anthony Hopkins, the gore violence and details really showed how people back then lived like mere products simply because of their skin color. I especially liked how it shows the lives of these slaves back in their homeland from where they were kidnapped from; the lives they once had but were ripped apart from at no warning. It's a part in history no one likes remembering, a part in history we'd all rather forget than remember. Movies and shows like these are very violent and filled with so much gore details, but it is a remembrance of the hard reality people once faced, lived, and died in.

Based on Alex Haley's 'Roots', this chronicles Alex's heritage from the Mandinka warrior Kunta Kinte who was born in 1750 Juffure, west Africa. The Mandinka kept slaves but the English brought gold and guns. Greed and revenge sends Kunta on a slave ship to America. Despite a slave revolt on the ship, he is sold in 1767 Annapolis. He and his descendants struggle under slavery all the way to Chicken George. George is the son of Tom Lea who raped his mother. He trained chicken to fight for his gambling master Tom. The mini-series ends with George who fights in the Civil War and his family being freed after the war.

The acting is tremendous. The production is terrific considering it's a TV show. There are plenty of big names and familiar faces. The new faces don't seem out of place. Malachi Kirby and Regé-Jean Page play the young leads in their respective time periods. They really shine. There is no weak acting from the main actors. The story does feel compressed from time to time as it skips through various time periods. It's an ambitious undertaking and it mostly pulls it off.