Rosewood
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VHS Movie Reviews of Rosewood
Movie Review: This movie makes me mad at America
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie got me hot. It mad me mad at the way black people were treated back in the past. Watch this movie if you want to get heated and ready to knock the s**t out of somebody. Never forget your past, or you'll be doomed to repeat it.Movie Review: This movie makes me mad at America
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie got me hot. It mad me mad at the way black people were treated back in the past. Watch this movie if you want to get heated and ready to knock the s**t out of somebody. Never forget your past, or you'll be doomed to repeat it.Movie Review: An all too often forgotten part of our history.
Summary: 5 Stars
It could be argued that some of the black characters are far from above reproach. Esther Rolle's decision not to report the incident, Ving Rhames' (and others) desire to initially run from the conflict, or you could look at the promiscuity of Don Cheadle's sister's character who has an adulterous affair with Jon Voight. Superficially these may appear to be character flaws. That is unless you account for the reality of pervasive racism that exists in America (forget about just the South) by both the general populous and public officials in particular. The harsh truth is that black people didn't have the luxury to be (much) less than virtuous as it could too often result in imprisonment, financial ruin, beatings or lynchings. And even with all of the so called virtue exhibited by the black characters an accusation by a white woman was accepted even in lieu of truths known by other white characters. If that could happen to characters who were above reproach I hate to imagine what would have happened to less virtuous characters. If they were virtuous it's only because their very survival depended on it. This theme has repeated itself all too often and all too recently for a thinking individual to believe that these types of incidents couldn't happen today. The most deplorable fact is how long it took for the government to even acknowledge the horror and injustice of this and other events such as the destruction of Black Wall Street in Kansas City. That is another element of why blacks so often had to conduct themselves in a seemingly reproachless manner.
And Mr. Singleton need not be criticized for the 'stereotypical' portrayals of southern racists. It was and is accurate. Just as it's accurate to demonstrate that there were and are whites who were fair minded and exhibited tremendous bravery of their own account.
There is nothing 'happy' about this movie at all. Look at the countless number of lives that were either ruined or ended because of our collective disease. The final conflict underscores the real tragedy that racism is. It destroys the lives and humanity of all it's participant's be they perpetrators or victims. How many children lost their parents? How many individuals lost their livelihood or savings? How many families were destroyed?
That notwithstanding it is a monumental achievment for Mr. Singleton if not necessarily a cinematic masterpiece. But who ever said that history has to be exiciting or uplifting? It's just what is. For that Mr. Singleton deserves the highest commendation just to get a film of this nature made let alone telling a too often suppressed and ignored part of our history. For that I give it 5 stars. However, there are many nuances to the film which I personally only recognized after multiple viewings. It's an experience that should be viewed, discussed and reflected upon. That's certainly something I can't say about much of what's coming out of Hollywood today.
What I wonder about is how many actual Rosewood's have occured that have never been recorded or recognized.
Movie Review: Not Rosey
Summary: 3 Stars
Rosewood's incendiary topic is historically-based and centers around a one-horse Florida town that in 1923 was the sight of a brutal white-on-black massacre. What a good movie can do is illuminate the conflict, cast an eye on the suspicious and ultimately destructive forces that laid seige to the town and set-off a wave of racist brutality. The quandry in this sort of movie is how to make a racist unique and avoid stereotypes. Director John Singleton and screenwriter Gregory Poirer's answers are inconclusive. Their gun-toting dolts chew ta-ba-kee, toss around the n-word like a football, and wear suspenders that accentuate their bloated beer-bellies. For the most part they're not real enough, but the terror they perpetrate is.Rhames is electrifying in a difficult role; Voight is all nerves and nuance. John Singleton has, as usual, chosen a provocative topic. It's a big screen natural. What weakens his work is his inability to speak for a group while never forgetting the individual. It's a tough balance, but Singleton's heroes are above reproach and thus rarely believable. In this often stunning work, racial pride takes precedence over moral complexity. Lessons can be taught less obviously than that.
Movie Review: A gripping drama of a shameful past.
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the most gripping dramas of a shameful episode of America's past. Many of the elements of this story have taken place numerous times over in the racist south. It is a story that needed to be told.