I will wrap up my Black History Month posts with back-to-back posts. Tomorrow, I will be posting more books to add to those I posted earlier this month (Post #2) for you to read.
Today, if movies are your thing, I have several suggestions for you to check out. Now, Hollywood does get many things wrong when making movies about history. Sometimes, it's for creative license; sometimes, it's combining individuals or events for time.
An example of this that popped in my mind right here as I'm writing this is the 1991 Oliver Stone film 'JFK'. It's the scene between New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner) and Mr. X (played by Donald Sutherland). The meeting never took place; it was a representation of correspondence between Garrison and a military intelligence officer.
In short, never take a Hollywood historical film as absolute truth. Still, there are many excellent films that cover Black history. Here are some.
Today, if movies are your thing, I have several suggestions for you to check out. Now, Hollywood does get many things wrong when making movies about history. Sometimes, it's for creative license; sometimes, it's combining individuals or events for time.
An example of this that popped in my mind right here as I'm writing this is the 1991 Oliver Stone film 'JFK'. It's the scene between New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner) and Mr. X (played by Donald Sutherland). The meeting never took place; it was a representation of correspondence between Garrison and a military intelligence officer.
In short, never take a Hollywood historical film as absolute truth. Still, there are many excellent films that cover Black history. Here are some.
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
directed by Raoul Peck
Author and activist James Baldwin was working on a book titled Remember This House, but he was unable to finish it due to dying from stomach cancer in 1987. (His final finished work, Harlem Quartet, was published earlier that same year.)
The 2016 documentary 'I Am Not Your Negro' uses Baldwin's unfinished manuscript. The film, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, covers Baldwin's memories of the American Civil Rights Movement, including memories of civil rights leaders Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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SOMETHING THE LORD MADE
directed by Joseph Sargent
This made-for-TV movie originally aired on HBO in 2004. It featured the late Alan Rickman as surgeon Dr. Alfred Blalock and rapper Mos Def as surgical assistant Vivien Thomas. The film focuses on Blalock's hiring of Thomas as a lab assistant in the 1930's. Their relationship is regularly very tense, but Thomas' impressive manual dexterity shown in his work as a janitor catches Blalock's attention. Eventually, Thomas becomes instrumental with Blalock in the development of techniques to treat Blue Baby Syndrome, that becomes the field of heart surgery.
The film received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, the Peabody Award, as well as many other accolades.
* * * *The film received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, the Peabody Award, as well as many other accolades.
SELMA
directed by Ava DuVernay
The Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965 took place in support of gaining Blacks the right to vote. They were led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Hosea Williams, and former Georgia Representative John ("good trouble") Lewis.
This 2014 film culminates with both the violent attack on marchers at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state and local officers ("Bloody Sunday") and the march reaching the Alabama state capital of Montgomery. All of which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The film features the Academy Award for Best Song winner 'Glory' by John Legend and Common, and has received dozens of awards and accolades.
This 2014 film culminates with both the violent attack on marchers at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state and local officers ("Bloody Sunday") and the march reaching the Alabama state capital of Montgomery. All of which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The film features the Academy Award for Best Song winner 'Glory' by John Legend and Common, and has received dozens of awards and accolades.
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MALCOLM X
Directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee directed this 1996 biopic about the controversial civil rights leader Malcolm X, played superbly by Denzel Washington, and was based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X by the civil rights leader and Roots author Alex Haley.
The film follows Malcolm's life from childhood to adult life. It includes his imprisonment for illegal activities, converting to Islam (and joining and subsequently leaving The Nation of Islam), his activism, and his assassination in 1965.
The all-star cast includes Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert W. Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., Delroy Lindo, director Spike Lee, Ernest Lee Thomas, Giancarlo Esposito, and Peter Boyle. The film has received over a dozen awards and accolades and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2010.
The film follows Malcolm's life from childhood to adult life. It includes his imprisonment for illegal activities, converting to Islam (and joining and subsequently leaving The Nation of Islam), his activism, and his assassination in 1965.
The all-star cast includes Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert W. Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., Delroy Lindo, director Spike Lee, Ernest Lee Thomas, Giancarlo Esposito, and Peter Boyle. The film has received over a dozen awards and accolades and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2010.
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HIDDEN FIGURES
Directed by Theodore Melfi
The practically unknown story of three Black women (Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson) working at NASA during the space race of 1960's America (played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe, respectively).
The 2016 film follows their contributions for the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, which would be piloted by John Glenn, under the backdrop of racial inequality of the time. The film concludes with a recap of the three women's continued, and highly-valued, work at NASA.
The 2016 film follows their contributions for the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, which would be piloted by John Glenn, under the backdrop of racial inequality of the time. The film concludes with a recap of the three women's continued, and highly-valued, work at NASA.
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GLORY
Directed by Edward Zwick
GLORY
Directed by Edward Zwick
Edward Zwick's 1989 historical drama tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The regiment was only the second all-Black regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
How the Black troops are treated unfairly by others during their training and how their commander, Colonel Robert Shaw, sees them as soldiers and not merely Black men are pivotal to the film. While not everything within the regiment goes smoothly, the men eventually develop a cohesive unit and respect for one another.
Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, and Andre Braugher lead an all-star cast in this Oscar-winning film (Best Supporting Actor [Denzel Washington], Best Cinematography, Best Sound).
How the Black troops are treated unfairly by others during their training and how their commander, Colonel Robert Shaw, sees them as soldiers and not merely Black men are pivotal to the film. While not everything within the regiment goes smoothly, the men eventually develop a cohesive unit and respect for one another.
Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, and Andre Braugher lead an all-star cast in this Oscar-winning film (Best Supporting Actor [Denzel Washington], Best Cinematography, Best Sound).
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AMISTAD
Directed by Steven Spielberg
AMISTAD
Directed by Steven Spielberg
I have a little bit of extra history with this 1997 historical drama. More on that later.
Another all-star cast appears in this film which follows the exploits of a group African tribesmen called the Mende who are sold into slavery. They are traveling aboard the La Amistad when they commit mutiny by overtaking their Spaniard captors, killing all but two. They want the Spaniards to set the ship back toward Africa, but they betray the Mende by steering the schooner into American waters. This leads to the taking of the tribesmen by a maritime customs enforcement ship, the U.S. Washington.
Once brought to America, the Mende's fate ("rightful ownership" or freedom) is ultimately decided before the Supreme Court, with President Martin Van Buren publicly supporting "ownership". Former President John Quincy Adams, now at the age of 72, eventually agreed to argue the case before the High Court for the Mende.
The incredible cast includes Anthony Hopkins (John Quincy Adams), Djimon Hounsou (in his incredibly-performed breakthrough film as Cinqué, the leader of the captured Mende), Matthew McConaughey (Roger Sherman Baldwin, an initial attorney for the Mende), Morgan Freeman (Theodore Joadson, an abolitionist), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (in his very first film role as Ensign James Covey, a Mende translator).
My little extra bit of history is this: During my graduate studies in the early 2000's, I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, to visit the Amistad, a rebuilt version of the nineteenth century ship which was launched in March of 2000. The ship is used for educational purposes to tell the story of the ship, the slave trade in general, and for visitors to see how tight things must have been for those captured. It was a very powerful and deeply moving experience. For more information, visit the Discovering Amistad website here.
Another all-star cast appears in this film which follows the exploits of a group African tribesmen called the Mende who are sold into slavery. They are traveling aboard the La Amistad when they commit mutiny by overtaking their Spaniard captors, killing all but two. They want the Spaniards to set the ship back toward Africa, but they betray the Mende by steering the schooner into American waters. This leads to the taking of the tribesmen by a maritime customs enforcement ship, the U.S. Washington.
Once brought to America, the Mende's fate ("rightful ownership" or freedom) is ultimately decided before the Supreme Court, with President Martin Van Buren publicly supporting "ownership". Former President John Quincy Adams, now at the age of 72, eventually agreed to argue the case before the High Court for the Mende.
The incredible cast includes Anthony Hopkins (John Quincy Adams), Djimon Hounsou (in his incredibly-performed breakthrough film as Cinqué, the leader of the captured Mende), Matthew McConaughey (Roger Sherman Baldwin, an initial attorney for the Mende), Morgan Freeman (Theodore Joadson, an abolitionist), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (in his very first film role as Ensign James Covey, a Mende translator).
My little extra bit of history is this: During my graduate studies in the early 2000's, I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, to visit the Amistad, a rebuilt version of the nineteenth century ship which was launched in March of 2000. The ship is used for educational purposes to tell the story of the ship, the slave trade in general, and for visitors to see how tight things must have been for those captured. It was a very powerful and deeply moving experience. For more information, visit the Discovering Amistad website here.
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12 YEARS A SLAVE
Directed by Steve McQueen
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Directed by Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen -- the director, not the famous actor of the 50's, 60's, and 70's (okay, I'm aging myself) -- directed this 2013 historical biographical film based on the mid-nineteenth century memoir of Solomon Northup.
Northup was a Black man who was born free in Minerva, New York. In addition to being a farmer and a landowner, he was a professional musician who played the violin. He was offered a job to play violin in Washington, D.C., but the offer turned out to be a ruse. Northup was captured and sold into slavery in Louisiana.
The film is extremely powerful. I found it difficult to watch at times, not because of gore, but just recalling what happened in this country and how terrible I felt. It wasn't "white guilt", not by a long shot, but it was just the horrors of people doing that to people is what shook me.
Slavery is a part of American history just like anything else. A huge black mark, to be sure, but no less a part of our history.
The film went on to win three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress [Lupita Nyong'o]), in addition to nearly 150 awards and accolades. The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, mentioned above in Amistad, (as Solomon Northup), Lupita Nyong'o (as Patsey, a fellow slave), Michael Fassbender (as Edwin Epps, a plantation owner), Brad Pitt (producer, as Samuel Bass, a Canadian carpenter and abolitionist), and Benedict Cumberbatch (as William Ford, the first slave owner to buy Northup, who showed him the only kindness under slavery).
Northup was a Black man who was born free in Minerva, New York. In addition to being a farmer and a landowner, he was a professional musician who played the violin. He was offered a job to play violin in Washington, D.C., but the offer turned out to be a ruse. Northup was captured and sold into slavery in Louisiana.
The film is extremely powerful. I found it difficult to watch at times, not because of gore, but just recalling what happened in this country and how terrible I felt. It wasn't "white guilt", not by a long shot, but it was just the horrors of people doing that to people is what shook me.
Slavery is a part of American history just like anything else. A huge black mark, to be sure, but no less a part of our history.
The film went on to win three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress [Lupita Nyong'o]), in addition to nearly 150 awards and accolades. The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, mentioned above in Amistad, (as Solomon Northup), Lupita Nyong'o (as Patsey, a fellow slave), Michael Fassbender (as Edwin Epps, a plantation owner), Brad Pitt (producer, as Samuel Bass, a Canadian carpenter and abolitionist), and Benedict Cumberbatch (as William Ford, the first slave owner to buy Northup, who showed him the only kindness under slavery).
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If you have any other suggestions of films, click on Post a Comment below.
Terry
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