Black Earth Rising

All the actors should be praised for delivering delicious acting, but especially John Goodman is like a finely aged wine. He delivers a serious performance with just a pinch of goofyness to make a subtle contrast to the serious themes.

Seems a bit underrated to me. Should lean more towards 8 stars.

An intelligent script digs below the superficial understanding that some of us (including me) have of the dreadful events in Rwanda, while creating strong characters to drive forward a human story. The actors are more than up to the task of making this balance work. I am gripped and eagerly await episode 3.

I can't remember seeing a more honest tv show about a contemporary African problem (rogue warlords) and the way white people in the west make a very good living taking 10 to 20 years 'bringing them to justice' and pulling political and economic strings to get those cushy jobs ...

The beautiful lead character plays a Rwandan that barely escaped the genocide. She is reared in the UK by a liberal white adoptive mother who is also a criminal prosecutor for the ICC in the Hague. Her daughter is totally against prosecuting the only 'hero' in the war and it is creating conflict in the family with discourse and dialogue on both sides of the genocide issue that I personally have never heard in public before. They leave no stone unturned in this show, also giving an overview of worthless UN peacekeepers and the French army, still in Rwanda.

What I like/LOVE about this show though, is they don't give you the answer.

They present all sides and let you sort thru it yourself and come to your own conclusion. I hope it's not snatched off the air. It's very political and I'm very surprised it even made it on screen for one episode. I look forward to seeing the rest of the series and I hope that the BBC doesn't capitulate to the puppetmasters that control the media and pull the plug on this early.

Fingers crossed!

This series is quality drama. It tells the story of a Rwandan girl now grown up who was rescued following a genocide. The series tells the story of the girl's pursuit of justice. Outstanding performances from the girl played by Michaela Cowl, Harriet Walter as her mother and a wonderfully nuanced performance by John Goodman. The supporting cast are great too I've watched to episode 3 so far and I'm totally hooked. Looking forward to the rest!

I really enjoyed the show but had to laugh at the doctor's line in the first episode about white people finding it hard to tell African's faces apart. I laughed because Micheala Coel, whilst a great actress, has a face that is just so obviously from West African heritage and not Tutsi. Having lived and worked with Rwandans of many backgrounds over the years and knowing that people were killed in the genocide just because of how they looked it is hard to put this on one side.