Why are there so few movies about American slavery? There are umpteen movies about the Civil War, but extremely few that deal with slavery itself. Why? On some level I understand that such a movie might be “controversial,” but I’m not exactly sure why – it’s not as though anyone’s in favor of slavery anymore. Is it just too uncomfortable for people? (And if so, why are we able to deal with Holocaust movies – an event in living memory?) It’s a topic that could provide some great stories too – imagine the movie that could be made from Nat Turner’s slave revolt, or the story of a slave escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad. How 'bout a cinematic version of the raid on Harper’s Ferry?
…Or are there movies about slavery out there and I’ve just missed them? I know there are a few – “Roots,” of course, being the main one. Most of the rest I can think of are only somewhat related: “Amistad” is about would-be slaves; “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “Glory” are about freed slaves; “Gone With the Wind” is of course about the plantation owners.
There’s a rather odd one in theaters at the moment called Manderlay (a Lars von Trier film) about slaves in Alabama in the 1930s. (Alterniverse sort of thing.)
I think the logic basically goes “Black movies don’t make nearly as much as white movies” and “Black people don’t want to see a movie about slaves” and “ROOTS already said it all”, so consequently there’s really little made on the topic. Personally I’d like to see a movie about Nat Turner or Denmark Vesey or even John Brown or a fictional slave uprising. It could be spookily relevant today with the terrorist threat and such ethical debates such as those posed in Munich.
Or a remake of Huckleberry Finn even, seriously. This time with Jim portrayed a bit more realistically than he’s usually portrayed (i.e. no politically correct perfect grammer and certainly not as a buffoon). This is a man who risked torture and death so that he would not be sold and so he could work himself half to death to buy his wife and son and (deaf) daughter- he’s not the simpleton so many idiots who haven’t read the book seem to think he’s portrayed as but at the same time having him give maudlin speeches on slavery as he’s done in a couple of recent (past 30 years) productions is equally idiotic.
Check out The Journey of August King (1995). A great, understated little gem of a movie. August King (Jason Patric) is a farmer in early 19th-century North Carolina who has lived a deeply lonely life after the tragic deaths of his wife and child. He has closed himself off from the world so much he barely seems human. One day he finds a young runaway slave, Annalees (Thandie Newton) hiding in his wagon. He decides to risk everything and break the law to help her escape to the North. They’re being chased by Annalees’ relentless slaveowner (and father) who does everything in his power to destroy King and get Annalees back.
It’s such a powerful movie. The journey of the title isn’t just the physical journey from South to North, but also the journey August King takes as he sacrifices everything and maybe, just maybe, learns to feel again. It avoids the obvious romantic plot – yes, King loves Annalees, but there’s a deeper level, the love you can feel for another’s person’s humanity, and the wish to treasure and protect that humanity. It’s also not just a ‘noble white man saves dark-skinned girl’ movie, either. Annalees is the most proactive character in the movie, she’s the one who decides to run for freedom, she’s the one who convinces King to help her and ultimately, she’s the one who saves herself and the good man inside King.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1914), The Birth of a Nation (1915), Huckleberry Finn (1920), Topsy and Eva (1927), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927), Huckleberry Finn (1931), The Emperor Jones (1933), So Red the Rose (1935), Way Down South (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), Seven Angry Men (1955), Band of Angels (1957), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1965).
James Garner and Lou Gosset Jr. play (what else?) scam artists, selling and re-selling Lou Gosset, who subsequently escapes. Puddin’Head Wilsonhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087954/
Ken Howard plays the title role in a greatly-altered but very well done adaptation of Mark Twain’s story that is, ultimately, about how slavery affects people.