Il viaggio di August

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.

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

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.

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.

On his way home from selling his produce, farmer August King meets a black teenage girl escaping her cruel master. He doesn't help her but doesn't reveal her either and later she returns looking for help. He reluctantly hides her in his wagon and continues his journey. Along the way the two get to know one another better and gradually become friends.

I am a shallow, obvious man and I watched this film because I think Thandie Newton is not only a great actress but also really rather stunning! There. Cards on table! Anyway, I was interested in the title of the film and was not surprised to find that, as hinted by the title, that this is really more about a journey than the actual story. It is a little clichéd in the way that we more or less know where it is going, but it is still pretty engaging nonetheless. The story struggles a little bit to have as much meaning as it thinks it does, and too much of it is a little unsatisfactory, but it works well enough to do the job for 90 minutes. The journey is a little forced at times and doesn't always ring true but it is still worth seeing.

A big part of this working is due to the characters of August and Annalees and how they work together. I found both to be interesting and engaging even if nothing was really happening at several points. It was to be expected, but they become friends and it manages to be quite touching at several points. Most of the praise of this can be laid at the actors' feet as they make these characters and quite predictable narrative involving and enjoyable. Patric is great and gives his complex character room to grow as the film progresses - even though his character is not totally clear, he still engaged me. Newton is good even though she looks far too good to be an escaping slave. Her accent is good for the most of the film and only occasionally does she go silly with it! The support cast is not quite as good but Drake and Waterson both do OK.

The film looks good and has a gentle atmosphere to it that suits the landscape and also makes the tension easier to raise in the quicker moments (thanks to the contrast). It isn't a brilliant film, but manages to be an enjoyable one despite the lack of a strong narrative. The actors do very well to make engaging characters out of what could have easily been cliché and produce emotion out of what could have just been cloying sentiment.