Les chemins de la liberté

This is a BEAUTIFUL film, both in its cinematography and in its story. It is not, as one reviewer put it, about a man who falls in love with his dead wife's servant. It is about a man who risks all to aid a young runaway slave (no relationship to him or his wife). This is a powerful film about a man's struggle to follow his conscience despite a world that insists he do otherwise. I can't believe that until today (Aug 3, 2003), I had not seen this film. Too bad movies like this aren't made more often. Excellent acting, writing, directing, cinematography. A++

The film has a strong moral message to give to the viewer. It raises a question on the mind: is it enough to be a person working for the well-being of himself and family in a honest way in order to be considered to be a good, honorable man? The answer is no. It is not acceptable to condone the cruelty or injustice of others, a conscientious man should fight against them.

At the very beginning of the film, there is a scene where a man kills his wounded dog. August King would like to stop him, but he did nothing, just turned back go his own way....At the end of the film he tells that he won't be the man he was used to be...i think he meant such situations...During his journey, August King turned to be a man who would not hesitate to break the rules to do whatever he thinks it is right to do.

In sum, the film is something much more than a love story and i very much liked it.

The Journey of August King is certainly a worthy film and probably should be shown in classrooms when dealing with topics like slavery. However, entertainment value is limited thanks to sluggish pace and lack of conflict in the storyline. Thandie Newton is good as the escaped slave though her behavior and speech feels occasionally anachronistic. Jason Patric is all right. The growing relationship between these two feels real but lacks spark. The production values are fine but you may still feel that you are watching a made-for-TV production.

Overall 6/10

Films with noble themes such as this one sometimes find themselves shielded from criticism. However if you look at this film just as another movie what we have here is actually not that great a movie dealing with huge themes. The story of August Hill who finds redemption in the noble sacrifice of his way off life to aid the escape of an escaped slave is noble but I do not feel Jason Patrick lends the lead character enough weight to portray the guilt he is supposed to be carrying. Again Thandie Newton as the slave girl Analeese is okay, but the character is very two dimensional. There is little to no support story or characters and in the end this feels like a bog standard television movie that is only lifted out of the doldrums by a decent conclusion. I for one will not be watching this again.

Jason Patric plays the title character in this period piece during pre-Civil War times. He's, well, journeying home from selling his home-grown goods, and comes across Thandie Newton, a runaway slave. After a brief internal conflict, he decides to help Thandie find her freedom. Together they go on both a physical and emotional journey throughout the course of the film.

While there are some very well-acted scenes, this is a pretty common plot line of movies that take place in the 1800s. The Journey of August King isn't the best anti-slavery movie out there, but it is far from the worst, so if you like the abundant emotions, moral lessons, and historical beauty of the time period, you'll definitely want to add this one to your list on an autumn afternoon. Somehow the southern landscapes always look even more beautiful during the fall season, don't they? Kiddy warning: Depending on how much your kids know about slavery, you might not want them to watch this one just yet.