O Massacre de Rosewood

I saw this movie in my African American Experience class in 12th grade. It was incredibly saddening to know that such hatred exists within this country. The fact that it's a true story makes it worse. Bout time movies like this are being made despite the discomfort to others. Black history should not be denied because whites or anyone else feels uncomfortable or guilty at the end of a film. No one should be robbed of their history because it makes you "feel bad". The fear and isolation are undoubtedly felt through the black characters. To live in absolute fear for your life because of your skin color is perceptible even today. This story forces people to reconcile with the past to avoid further instances in the future. Not to make people feel guilty. Besides, minorities have felt bad in movies for a long time and nobody gave a damn as long as you know who looks good. I'm not militant or whatever else comes to mind. This movie is excellent because it shows a true story in historical fashion. Everyone did an excellent job. I felt anger and I'm sure that wasn't by accident. Jon V. was really convincing. I'm a big fan of his and he really made me dislike him. Just the very events of having a system of hatred set up against someone so that they don't get a chance is played out well in this film. Please do watch and get a little perspective.

Director John Singleton who's first film (Boyz 'N the Hood)left audiences in awe has once again cast an emotional spell upon his audiences. Some people have a question of how historically accurate the film itself is. With some browsing around from site to site I found that the place and time period hold true, along with with the weaponry (I was skeptical about the dual pistol action)used in the film to be weapons of the time period. Also while browsing I came across a quote from the director himself "I am concerned about absolute historical accuracy to an extent, but I am really more worried about being truthful to the essence of what happened at Rosewood... I am making a movie that people will respond to." With that in mind the general plot seemed to take course as accurately as possible, (considering the account of this event has several different death counts depending on the source)all characters used the same names as the real life people, well besides Ving Rhames' character Mann who is entirely fictional built-in to make the movie more interesting. Other than that shady character John Singleton kept to the truth and provoked a variety of emotions from his audience once again, fulfilling his goal.In the end it was a very powerful film on a tragic event.

I am white and grew up in the county where this really happened. I remember as a child driving by the place where this community was. There was a small sign that was put up by the Florida DOT that said "Rosewood" but there was nothing there. I asked my mother why and she was unsure what to tell me. Then when this movie came out I realized what had happened. I began asking the elderly people I knew, but they did not want to talk about this except for my ex-husband's step dad. He remembered being a boy and the mob trying to get his father to join them. He refused to participate and was threatened for the future of his family. I am also ashamed to say that race relations have still not gotten a lot better here. In 1969 when I was in kindergarten, I remember being sent home due to race riots in the high school. I now live in California, and I know some people found the movie distressing. Unfortunately the south has a subculture of violence even to this day. The actors did an excellent job on this film. I am so glad that the filmmakers had the courage to take this story on. People tend to think of Florida as an integrated state because of Miami and Orlando, but central and northern Florida is still very racist. For example the African-Americans still call the whites by names such as "Mr. John" or "Miss Ellen". Then little town I grew up in ,Williston, still has the African-Americans living on one side of the railroad tracks and the whites on the other "better" side. There are some whites that are very decent people and some blacks that are of very poor character. I keep waiting and praying for the day when a person will "be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" in the words of the great Martin Luther King JR. PLEASE SEE THIS MOVIE!! If Americas can take the violence that is in video games and stupid horror movies they should be able to take the true portrayal of man's inhumanity to man in this most wonderful film!!

This movie has a great point to it. I saw it in American History class at school because the teacher wanted to show it to us as an impact film. This is based on a tragic time in our history that went missing for a while. A town in Florida that was inhabited mostly by African Americans was burned to the ground, and the survivors of this terrible disaster were so traumatized by it that no one new about it until the 1980's. A reporter was finding out why there was a lack of black citizens in that area of Florida, but when this reporter found out about everything, it was more than one could expect to find.

The movie takes place in 1923 in a town in Florida called Rosewood. During the time, there was much hatred and racism towards the African Americans. In the movie, a false claim made by a white woman starts a series of race riots that eventually leads to a great disaster.

Everything about the movie is true except for the character of Mr. Mann(played by Vingh Rames). This is a very exciting movie from the director of Boyz N The Hood, and I strongly recommend it.

This movie is a very violent and sad movie--guaranteed to have an impact on all its viewers. Because of the serious and violent nature of the film, I would not suggest this for viewing by younger kids, though for teens it probably will be okay--provided you watch it with them and explain the context for the film.

The exact events that happened in this small town many decades ago are very vague. We know, historically, that MANY people (mostly Black-Americans) were killed by marauding gangs of whites. However, exactly WHAT sparked it and the exact events are muddled by time and the fact that there were very few living witnesses to the carnage. As a result, the ONLY reasonable way the film could be made was to create a fictionalized drama around the framework of the known events. And, as such, it is an immensely touching and effective film.