Queen

Alex Haley's grandmother Queen's life portrayed in a grand production. Halle Berry brings to life all of the pains and sorrows of a life of grand adventure and deep dispair.

No expense or detail is spared in this spellbinding tale of life as it used to be in the deep south.

There are two sides to every story, the saying goes. For Alex Haley, one side was ROOTS, the towering chronicle tracing seven generations of his mother's family. The other side comes to the screen in QUEEN, the remarkable history of the paternal side of the author's family. David L. Wolper is executive producer of this acclaimed adaptation of the story Haley was working on when he died. Halle Berry plays Queen, daughter of a slave and a plantation owner. During the turbulent decades of the antebellum South, the Civil war, Reconstruction and beyond, she searches for a home in the two cultures of her heritage-and at times is shunned by both. Rejection and hate are no match for her unconquerable will, however.

I feel this is an excellent movie/miniseries,because not only of the cast itself but,also due to the impact it causes on the viewer.It is very appropriate for all ages (in my book any way).It opens and shows many real life sagas from an era gone,but still existing in todays society.The cast was well picked for the movie and the plot is great. It's the kind of movie one could watch more than once and never loose interest in due to the plot/moral and simple outcome of pore-civil and post civil war life and time.The whole movie is long,but well worth the time it takes to watch it.I'm glad I didn't miss this one and more glad it is available as an online movie.Any who has watched I am sure enjoyed it and for those who haven't yet seen it I really encourage you to.

One of those grandiose episodic films, in this case based on Alex Haley's mother Queen (Halle Berry) living through the traumatic experiences of the end of slavery. This is a great slice of American history, beautifully filmed and with an extraordinary cast and excellent ambientation. Such that you feel you are right there with them in the tobacco plantations, enjoying and suffering throughout Queen's life her happy and anguishing moments. The gorgeous (any other adjectives, anybody?) Halle Berry enacts the best rôle of her life. You will never see anything better by her.

Shown here on Spanish National Television (RTVE) in just one episode in the middle of the summer a few years ago: you might say 260 minutes (plus the advertisement breaks) for an epic saga is pure masochism. No; not at all: this is a gripping and powerful production, masterfully portraying human feelings, suffering, joy…….. OK: you need to get up, take a walk around the house during the commercials, make a pot of coffee, phone your mother-in-law and tell her what she is missing, take a cold shower around the 180 minute break, and so on – but it is worthwhile. Apart from 'North and South' (1985/1986) nothing else is comparable. And that is what most surprises me: very few voters on IMDb and nobody has troubled to write a commentary (as of August 2001).

In the book, Annie's father was a white man; therefore Annie was a mulatto. Her daughter Easter was fathered by a white man, which made her a quarter white. Easter's daughter, Queen, was fathered by Jas. the young "massa". therefore Queen was only one eighth black. Halle Berry is half white which made her far too dark complexioned for the part and as a result, unconvincing, no matter how hard she tried. The whole theme of the book was that Queen looked white and was not accepted by the black people because of it. She was able to pass for white as long as she did not admit that she had been born a slave.

Another miscast role was Martin Sheen butchering the Irish accent. Were there no Irish actors available? I kept waiting for Mr. Sheen to deliver an Irish joke.

MOST annoying of all was the grammar - no plurals and missing verbs. "I black" "I with chile". Perhaps they spoke like this 150 years ago, but for modern audiences it would have been better to have modified the speech a little. As it was I found it irritating. I would recommend the book instead of the miniseries, which begins half way through the book.