The Long Song

I really enjoyed this mini series especially given that the Black cast spoke the Jamaican patois so well and hearing the original Jamaican folk songs added to the authenticity. Although Tamara Lawrence gave a great performance, I don't think she was the right person to play the role of July. In the book July is biracial. Tamara Lawrence is not a mixed race Black woman. Tamara Lawrence is a dark skinned Black woman with typically west African features and hair texture. As a Jamaican of mixed heritage I find this casting of Tamara problematic especially when we see that July is given an elevated status to the rest of the slaves. The casting of Tamara as July doesn't allow the audience to see colorism at play as it is more clear in the book. July is a mixed woman with typical "Eurocentric" features and for that reason she was favored by the mistress to be her house maid. History tells us that mixed race slaves were typically house slaves.

Period dramas are extremely common in the UK. There are gritty adaptations to more romanticize tales. The Long Song's is told from a slave's perspective. And the series succeeds on this point. Most audiences, even a British one, are more aware of America's experience of abolishing slavery. The Long Song shows what happens in the Caribbean - it was a time where slaves were rebelling more frequently, making it more dangerous for slave owners.

The series shows that slavery ended for two reasons in the British Empire. The slaves were rebelling and becoming harder to control.There was also a moral campaign in Britain to abolish slavery. The wit that goes along with the heroine's hardships makes this a surprisingly funny but dark look at the end of slavery in Jamaica.

Miss July (Tamara Lawrance) has known nothing except life on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Taken from her mother at seven years old because Caroline (Hayley Atwell) took a fancy to her as a house slave, July fetches and carries for her mistress, endures her frequent temper tantrums. Tamara Lawrance is wonderful as Miss July.

Despite the heavy subject matter The Long Song was also fairly humorous. Most of this was concentration on Hayley Atwell's character. Caroline is shown to be spoiled and child-like who becomes irate when she doesn't get her way. The character was similar to Queen Anne in The Favourite - a mentally unstable woman in a position of power. The humor helps prevents the series from being too heavy.

The series had cinematic quality even though it was set in the confines of the plantation. The show was shot on location and like any costume drama the production values were of the highest order. There were great looking costumes, scenery, and cinematography. The slave rebellion and Richard's war with the workers added to cinematic quality because of the scale of the scenes and chaos that was happening.

The Long Song was an excellent mini-series that looked at a fascinating period of history and gives audiences an alternative perspective.

Just finished the series and while it was frustrating, painful and heartbreaking at times, it is well worth watching. It touches on so many issues that remain relevant today - colorist, the arrogance of privilege, the desire to escape racial boundaries, yet the risks that can come when things go wrong. I felt the series did a good job of showing the casual brutality and sadism of the slave system and the utter immorality of the whites who owned slaves. The story of July was frustrating because she was clearly clever, yet seemed utterly unaware of the duplicity of the whites around her, including her "husband" and master.

Despite these shortcomings I found it compelling and well acted. Several commuters have claimed the actress who played July was too dark to be of mixed race or be a house slave. Neither is true. It is not the case that all mixed race people are fair skinned or that all house slaves were fair skinned.

Adapted from a fictional novel about the before, during and after the abolition of slavery.

This lengthy saga was very successfully realised in this BBC drama. You sensed the author had conglomerated several lives to raise situations and issues that would sustain a long novel.

This sense of expanse played well and there was fine acting throughout. This was great Sunday night viewing and with the entertainment we learnt a great deal about some difficult truths about sugar production.

Other critics have touched on the shortcomings of this production. I have only seen the first episode but find the series to be engaging and atmospheric. I don't think July's trickster ways were uncommon for enslaved people. She becomes a lady's maid under painful circumstances. There's an act or two that are somewhat comic. Then comes the cruelty and violence that are certainly omnipresent in the lives of the enslaved. Nevertheless, the first episode ends on an intriguing note. I am here for the rest of this program, and feel viewers of Masterpiece will not be disappointed. Historically accurate? It might fall short, but so does Downton Abbey and there are no complaints. Allow yourself to enter July's world for a spell and let's find out what she does next.