Sankofa

Most older movies and many movies in general like "Song of the South" and "Gone With the Wind" depicted Slavery as an okay instuition. In those films Slaves are depicted as Happy in that institiution, but in this film you see how Slaves really felt. Also you can see their humanity and knowledge where in older films they were depicted as ignorant.

This film is really, really neat for an independent film, and it shows a real slave castle in Gahana. Sankofa is a term that... Well, get the movie and you will learn more about it.

It does a good job of taking you through the film from a slaves point of view. The film uses that interesting "lens" to illustrate just how wrong slavery was. It also gives insight into the family unit among slaves, which may explain the black family today in America. Understanding the history of black families during slavery may be used to help understand the black family today in it's struggles to have cohesiveness.

I saw this film in Washington, DC in 1995 and have since purchased the tape. It is a blast of African pride and anti-slavery vigor from Ethiopian-born director Haile Gerima. Gerima is a professor at Howard University in DC and his films confront the issues of race, integration, and violence in Africa and America. "Sankofa" is available through Mypheduh films (Gerima's production company) in DC.

The story begins and ends on a small island in West Africa, where 'Mona', an African-American fashion model, is in the present day. The middle of the film consists of Mona, through magic realism, being transported back to a slave plantation in 18th-century America. For those of you who wonder about what it was like to be a slave back then, under those barbaric and intolerable conditions, this is your chance. "Sankofa" is not for the faint of heart. Yet its violent scenes are never overdone, and the film's final 'message' is a positive one.

It's a shame that this film at this time has an IMDB "rating" of only 5 or so, because 31 of the 44 votes cast have been "10"s, including mine. I guess this film has alienated a few people, but most powerful films do that. A very important film from a gifted and underrated director.

The first time I heard of this movie was in College. I then purchased myself a copy. This movie is Amazing, Probably the truest, realest movie regarding Slavery. It told of the horrors and abuse African people who were brought to this country endured.. I believe this is a must see for everyone regardless of races..The strength alone of the people, to deal with what they faced and to still rise above that is absolutely Incredible. It is a shame that this movie got no recognition in the US . I guess it would cause people to deal with the reality of the horrific brutality human beings faced during this darkest era in American History.

i have to say first that i have the complete and utmost respect for this film and the message it conveys. i am writing a large paper about it for my english class and i have put much thought into the story and characters. yet as much as i love

what this film does for showing viewers a real and raw account, i cannot help but notice that this film is, for lack of any other word...cheap. i feel that with a better budget haile gerima could have wokred wonders. however, sadly, the fact still remains that the acting is mediocre at best, the music is horrid and the editing is amatuer. i feel bad about putting these things into writing, however when i critique a film, i cannot ignore the quality of aspects of the film because of it's great social importance. i would like to see more from gerima in the future.

Hailes Sankofa is the first and best movie about slavery ever made. Forget Amistad go see this movie if you can find it. The director of this movie could not get funding for this movie as the content was considered 'too controversial'. He made the movie outside of Hollywood and this resulted in a honest view on the history of slavery. This movie had bad distribution and no advertisement but it sold out at the box offices in America. The movie is named after the bird Sankofa. This bird is always looking back to where it came from. This massage is important throughout the movie; for a better understanding of the present and the future you need to know where you came from and how history has treated you.