All my life I have heard the same old "smoke screens" every time something happens to expose the history of racism in this country that they don't want to acknowledge. That is the case with "Roots", and all the rationalizations used by these people to try and denigrate the story's impact. It does not change the fact that racism is "as American as apple pie". But these people never give up. It has been over 40 years since "Roots", and while things may have improved, we still have a long, long, long, long way to go.
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Captain_Couth4 March 2009Roots (1977) is still the best mini-series. This highly watched drama set the bar for all of the epic television dramas. The series follows the life of Kunta Kinte and his descendants from the coasts of West Africa to the plantation fields of the American south. This show pulls no punches when dealing with the sad truths about how many slaves were shipped from their homelands and (if they survived the horrific overseas trip) forced to work in the fields. Even though Kunta was a slave, he never lost hope about one day his ancestors would once again have the freedom he once had. He also vowed that his ancestors would never forget their roots, old ways and customs.
Kunta always tried to head for freedom whenever the chance came. Even when the slave catchers cut off a piece of his foot, that never deterred him from running. But his marriage and child kept him from running when he had the opportunity. He named his only daughter Kizzy (Mandinka for staying put). Years later, Kizzy is sold to Tom Moore who uses his slaves not only for workers but for "comfort women: as well. She has a mixed child named Chicken George who like his grandfather also dreams about freedom and does whatever he can to make sure that he's a free man.
Awesome show and it still holds up well, The one thing I really got a hoot out of was seeing some of the well known liberal actors in Hollywood play some of the most despicable characters you'll ever want to see (Ralph Waite, Lloyd Bridges, Vic Morrow). The story and acting is top notched and it's definitely a heart string puller.
Highest recommendation possible. -
Richie-67-48585223 July 2017The concept of your beginning or the beginning that led up to you is Universal and applies to everyone. Who wouldn't find their own ancestry fascinating? That's why this was a ground-breaking event never before scene and why it captured vast audiences for decades. Even today, it continues to beckon to anyone who watches the show to ask your personal questions of your own start-up. I remember at the time this came out on TV, the black people were in desperate need of something to hope for of which Martin Luther King had supplied and had done so successfully before his death. Right after these episodes were aired, a discovery of something greater than your hopeless daily day to day existence was introduced and people started believing in themselves and that they mattered. That's how powerful this series was. Of course today, the worth of a human being doesn't require prompting or remembering as we all have discovered that we matter. Kudos to all those that were able to be a part of this life-changing event. Sorry to say but necessary to be told is the shameful part of history where one race thought them selves superior to another and used degradation, pride, and perversion to assert this. Slavery had been going on since mankind matured and traveled the globe respecting no one. The strong preyed upon the weak. What makes it so unacceptable is that it took place in America proving that there is no perfect place to live but instead, lots of work to be done first with the self, then with each other and of course unto God the one who started it all up to begin with. Even sadder still, slavery and trade in humans exists to this day. Have a finger snack and a tasty drink ready to go when watching. Also, there are some scenes that just yank on your emotions and teach us if anything NOT to do what was being done on screen besides tugging at your innards with disgust. It is well said by Toby in one episode who after being unduly and harshly punished for causing trouble best..."how can one man do this to another man" How indeed....
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DeeJsBabe7 January 2006I normally don't start out this way, but I feel it matters. I am a Southern White, and I have not seen this movie up until the other night.
I thought this mini-series was one of the top three or four I have ever seen. Throughout the years since this came out, I never really bothered, thinking it would be simply white bashing. It was not. I felt it might be in contradiction with the kind people and relatives I grew up knowing. It was not.
I feel that this mini-series realistically blends black history in with the history we have been fed from the Northern side as well as the Southern side.
Most southerners were not slave owners. They were represented. I think this movie strove to show the kindness in people, as well as the darkness. I look at the South with fondness, but I know that what this movie portrayed was true - in spirit, if not fact.
Sometime after this originally came out there was some controversy over Haley faking some of this. I thought (at the time), A HA! It's bull! Again, remember that I had not watched it. Upon seeing it I realized that though some of this might be fiction, it certainly rang true.
What I didn't like about the movie: Watching Sandy Duncan and Leslie Uggams play teenagers. The acting was okay. Duncan reminded me of that spoiled brat in Little House on the Prairie. My guess is that Duncan was cast so she would look like an adult child and not seem out of place compared to Uggams. It is perhaps that during the seventies Hollywood did not want to take such a chance on a younger African-American to play Kizzy. It was an important role, and our society had not allowed Blacks to come into their own. Hollywood seems to want to force their views on society, yet they are often the last to come into line.
John Amos, whom I really like, seemed to be good and bad for his role. Someone said he sounded like he was in "Good Times" at some points. I don't feel that way. I do feel that his dialect seemed slightly out of place during some moments. He did not detract from the story, though. He carried on Burton's eternal fight for freedom with the same bullheadedness.
Ben Vereen: What can I say? When he started doing Variety Shows in the Seventies, I really admired him. He could play instruments, as well as sing, dance, and act. He does not disappoint here. I was so sad when he lost his role in Silk Stalkings due to an accident. Thankfully he has recovered over time.
Madge Sinclair: What an actress! and beautiful woman, to boot. I didn't know she had leukemia during the days I watched her on Trapper John. There were some episodes where she seemed older than her years, though always beautiful. In Roots she manages to capture and portray an inner beauty and let it shine through her bondage.
Most of the white actors were well cast, Duncan aside. I didn't realize how busy Lloyd Bridges was doing so many mini-series. He makes you hate him here, so he did his job.
Ed Asner had a very poignant remark about no one really being free. It was that he felt he was becoming a slave to his job. Please do not think I am comparing the miseries of forced slavery to a large scheme of celestial bondage, but it was pointed out in this film, that at the end of the war, freedom simply meant going from slavery into some other forced form of servitude. I'm retired, yet I often feel bound to government restrictions and the things I am forced to do routinely to simply maintain my retirement. The African-Americans added to Asner's moment by later saying that when someone died, the smile on his face meant he was finally free.
When Roots came out I remember the cries of many saying, "We now have our history!" Yes, and it was blended well into all of our histories, as I have mentioned. About five years ago, when my daughter married a man of color, he made her watch Roots. She asked me what I thought of him doing that. My response was that she needed to look at all things objectively, and know that most of life is a shade of gray. I also mentioned that had I been the same city, I would have liked to have viewed it with them. Now I can at least share my thoughts and hear my son-in-law's thoughts as well.
My biggest complaint is that the DVD is already out of print. HUH? One of the greatest mini-series ever made and I have to pay scalpers' fees for a used copy? (I borrowed my copy from the library) Please, someone! put this in a continual printing, and PLEASE, do not do what you did with others (cutting whole sections out to save a buck).
This movie (along with North and South) should be required viewing for all people. For the African-Americans, this movie should be made available forever, so that it does not simply fade into folk and family lore the way that Kunta-Kinte did - with only bits and pieces remaining. -
stevewest-129 January 2005I was born in 1980, and had heard of Roots from reading about LeVar Burton being the only real "name" to join Star Trek: The Next Generation. I came across the boxset at my local library and was able to find out what this "Roots" thing was all about. Having the series on DVD was definitely a boon as (despite being in NTSC) it has a crisp and clear appearance, usually stuff on TV from the 70's or 80's has a characteristic fuzziness.
Despite it's lowish budget, and age, Roots has a certain kinetic energy, it kept me interested from the start. Being able to see a young LeVar Burton was great, and without any visors or contact lenses. The casting was excellent all around and the actors put in 100% effort. My only bone to pick was using two different actors for Kunta Kinte. They were physically very different, John Amos doesn't look, act or sound like LeVar Burton, which disrupts the sense of continuity the rest of the multi-episode characters had.
By the end I found I had become quite involved with the series and enjoyed seeing it unfold, I liked it so much I viewed the whole nine hours again with commentary (well, I had time to kill). It is interesting that Roots carries a sense of history (as in the late 70's) and culture with it, it's not just a TV show, there's a whole air surrounding it. I'm glad I got the opportunity to see it, I gained a clearer understanding of where African-Americans as a people are coming from, and I hope everyone who hasn't seen it yet gets the opportunity to do so. -
classicalsteve16 July 2007Two of the most important American television programs are "The Civil War" by Ken Burns (1989), and the epic narrative miniseries "Roots" (1977) based on the book "Roots: The Saga of an American Family" by Alex Haley. Despite the controversy surrounding the book, and the facts of Haley's ancestry (for example, the slave Toby aka "Kunte Kinte", may never have fathered Kizzy and therefore may not be a direct ancestor of Haley) the series is an important and ground-breaking work in its stunning portrayal of slave life in America from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century.
For decades, the United States has been largely in denial of its treatment of African-Americans both as slaves and later in post-Civil War periods. The south of the 19th century had fabricated the reality of slave conditions and down-played the brutality inflicted on both slaves and anti-slave sympathizers. Racial hatred and brutality continued into the 20th century, largely fueled by white traditions that have (and continue to) concoct misrepresentations of historical reality to younger generations. By the middle of the 20th century, nearly 100 years after the end of the American Civil War, President Johnson signed Civil Rights legislation into law with the White Southern community kicking and screaming all the way. If legislation couldn't change people's hearts and minds, what could?
Americans love movies, story-telling/narrative film depictions of reality. There had never before been a nationally distributed film production that honestly told the story of the African-American slave experience. Fourteen years after Johnson's legislation, "Roots" was broadcast on national television by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). I regard those network executives that green-lighted the broadcast in great esteem for their willingness to take a chance on this most-important series. I doubt whether US commercial television will ever produce and broadcast such a high-caliber and controversial program again in the near future. And to give credit to the American viewing public, "Roots" was a huge success.
From beginning to end, "Roots" is an absolute triumph of film production, the best-ever miniseries offered by a corporate network prior to the rise of cable television. The acting and the script are top-notch. Almost every notable African-American acting talent of the time was solicited to join the cast, from LeVar Burton and John Amos (Kunte Kinte, Toby) to Lou Gosset Jr (Fiddler) to Ben Vareen (Chicken George) to James Earl Jones (Alex Haley). Even OJ Simpson makes an appearance. A lot of notable white talent appears as well, such as Ed Asner and Sandy Duncan.
Slavery is a tragedy and "Roots" is a tragic story. "Roots" has its light moments, its inspiring moments, although it is its heartbreaking moments that stay with you: The moment the young African Kunte Kinte is shackled, sold as chattel and forced to board the slave ship bound for America. The whipping of the young Kunte Kinte to "break" him into slavery. The selling of Kizzy, Toby's daughter, to another slave master because of her involvement with a scheme to help a runaway. These are the moments that make Roots' larger point. Another aspect that makes Roots effective in its rhetoric is that it never seeps into sentimentality to makes its point. The story relies on an honest narrative and the audience is left to draw their on conclusions. Is it brutal? Yes. Unjust? Definitely. And that is what it was. (If you don't believe "Roots", sell yourself into slavery and see how you like it.)
Two aspects occur to me about what this story means beyond just the plain inhumanity of the institution of slavery. One aspect is that the benefit of slavery is terribly minute when compared to the staggering price paid by the slaves themselves and everyone else. Simultaneously, non-slaves were pressed into service to maintain slavery as an institution. Such titanic sadness, misery, hopelessness brutality, and inhumanity is forced upon people (both slave and non-slave) in return for a more comfortable life for a minuscule segment of the population. And yet the amount of work, effort, and money to maintain the inhumane infrastructure seems more burdensome than if these people were free. The average white southerner could not afford to own slaves, and many worked for slave owners as overseers, slave-catchers, auctioneers, and other positions designed to maintain the institution. In short, misery for thousands with a little comfort for a few.
The other tragedy is the denial of positive contribution to society. Those who were slaves were denied giving their love, their knowledge, their inspiration, and their culture to society. All this beauty sacrificed so a few white aristocrats can laze around on sofas in front of fireplaces in giant mansions. Someone once said that if we don't help foster the gifts in other people, we run the risk of never seeing how our world could be made better. Slavery is a tragedy for the people enacting it as well, although the suffering aspect is less apparent.
"Roots" is a story that needs to be told and retold. Shown and re-shown. I would encourage any teacher trying to convey the reality of slavery in America to consider showing at least a segment or two of "Roots". There is no question that the film is mesmerizing. It saddens me that there are still those in America that want to hang onto southern myths that propagate that slavery wasn't that bad. These are some of the same people that are convinced the holocaust is a fabrication. It is better to forgive than the forget. We have to embrace our roots. -
fibreoptic18 September 2004There is nothing quite like Roots and i don't think anything will be done like it again. I first saw this about 5 years ago and since then i've seen it all 3 more times. It is a phenomenal achievement!
*SPOILERS*
Roots starts off around 1750 when an African baby is born called Kunta Kinte and follows his life. He gets enslaved by slavers when he's 15 and is taken to a white supremest America where he is sold at a slave market to a Virginian tobacco business man. From there we follow Kunta all the way through to old age and beyond and after he dies we follow his daughter and when she dies as an old lady we follow her son and so on. Basically the main characters die off and then the newish minor characters become main characters as well as there are new characters which are brought in from time to time. All the while though the black people are slaves and treated as 3rd class citizens. We see how they struggle with their hard life and how some of them are happy to be slaves as they've never known anything else and how some dream of freedom. Over the years and generations we see good white people, indifferent white people and very bad white people. It passes quickly through the war of independence but focuses longer on the civil war mainly because this is the beginning of the end of black slavery in America which leads to the KKK part of Roots.
After watching Roots it really does feel like you have watched 120 years of a families generations. From the beginning where Kunta is born all the way to the end where a very old Chicken George leads his family to a new free life. It is quite mind boggling.
I could write a huge review about this mighty saga but I ain't got the time and I doubt anyone would read it anyway. Nevertheless, the story is amazing, the acting is award winning and I have no quips with Roots at all apart from one thing. Everyone ages through this except the amazing ageless Mr Moore. Over a span of around 50 years he doesn't age a day. When he is first introduced he looks about 50 and 50 years later he still looks like 50. I think he must be a Highlander or something! LOL
Of course, Roots was made possible by the writer Alex Haley who was a descendant of Kunta Kinte which is explained at the very end. I recommend Roots very highly. It's for people who enjoy history and an engrossing story. You will also get attached to the characters and feel a sense of loss when one of them die. I've only covered the very basics and left a ton of stuff out in this review. Just like Schindler's List you have to watch this because it is an important piece of film making based on a true story. One word.... Brilliant! 10/10. -
I recently viewed all of this Mini series on the Hallmark Channel, and let me say, it was amazing! I was born 3 years after Roots was on television and never had the chance to see it growing up. I knew that Hallmark was showing it, so I made plans to see all 6 parts this week. It made me angry, it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me happy, it made me open my eyes. The range of emotions ran the table this week. Now I know why it got all the acclaim that it rightly deserves.
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harperdk20 May 2002Wow... It is hard to believe that people would actually treat other humans in this manner. I find it hard to watch the film.. I found myself turning it off... reflecting and then returning to the film. I hope this is a wake-up call to all people to understand that prejudice needs to stop. At all costs! What a price that has been paid for freedom!
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gilligan19651 September 2015Soon after this mini-series first came out on television, I remember that the biggest 'shock' that was written about and publicized wasn't about the cruelty and unfairness of slavery; or, the praising of its all-star cast and production; or, even Alex Haley's achievements as a writer!?!? It was about the actor, Ralph Waite (Daddy Walton on "The Waltons") - the once family-friendly patriarch of a nice family now using racially-degrading terms!?!? WHAT!?!? That's what people found most important about this mini-series...a talented 'white' actor being criticized for portraying a white-slave-trader 'character,' written about by a talented 'black' writer!?!? What was he supposed to do...pass-up the role? If he had, someone else would have done it!
Since then, I've read a lot of reviews, on and off of IMDb, about how this isn't really based upon Alex Haley's own 'roots;' how it's plagiarized from another writer; that it's altogether 'fake;' etc; etc. Who cares!?!? This series depicts human nature and how people were throughout an old period in American History...EVERY American's American HISTORY!
It's a great read as a book, and, a great achievement as a mini-series! Whether or not these events happened in-full or in-part as they are depicted, they had to have happened somewhere at some time. Maybe in Africa, Asia, and/or South America during their European colonization; maybe in Asia when Japan raped Nanking, China, and, other nations before and during World War II; maybe in Africa, or, anywhere else in the world (Europe; Native America; etc.), when one tribe of people enslaved another; etc.
If any or all of this is the case...then, "Roots" isn't only an 'American' story...it's a worldwide "HUMAN" story. A story of mankind's darker side in general - about what happens when 'any' powerful people invade and enslave 'any other' weaker people, anywhere in the world, past and present.
If that's the case, then, 'this' is the 'real' "GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD"...only told in an old American setting. -
Royalcourtier26 December 2009Too many people still believe that Roots is the true story of Alex Haley's ancestors. It is their story, all right, but almost entirely a work of fiction.
Mr Haley's claims to have spent 20 years under-covering his family history were quickly found to be false. The book (even Haley admitted it was a novel, and "largely" fiction) is a work of the imagination, not history. And not even his own imagination. It was freely plagiarized - whole pages intact -from the work of Harold Courlander - who incidentally wasn't an African-American.
Roots is compelling TV, but like Frankenstein or The Shawshank Redemption, it is a work of fiction, and a mistake to read too much into it. -
benfield-larry0913 April 2013One of the best mini-series to grace the small screen. Told through span of several generations of writer Authur Haley's ancestors. The depiction of the slave era is at times hard to watch but should be seen by all. The stellar cast brings both young (at that time) talent and many veteran stars of both the big and small screen. Both Levar Burton, and John Amos bring to life the story of Mandinka tribesman Kunta Kinte who is taken into chains from his African homeland to Colonial America and sold into slavery.
This series does not hold back either the depiction of native African life nor the language and violence of slave life in America. If you have a younger audience you might want to talk some about the content but nothing is presented in the series that is not done to the highest standard and quality. -
Taken from http://www.martinlutherking.org/roots.html
January 16, 2002 -- ON Friday, NBC will air a special commemorating the 25th anniversary of the landmark miniseries based on Alex Haley's book "Roots." Ironically, the original series aired on ABC - but officials at that network took a pass on broadcasting the tribute.
What's truly amazing, however, is that "Roots" is receiving a reverential tribute at all. For while the miniseries was a remarkable - and important - piece of television, the book on which it was based has now been widely exposed as a historical hoax.
Unfortunately, the general public is largely unaware of how Haley's monumental family autobiography, stretching back to 18th-century Africa, has been discredited.
Indeed, a 1997 BBC documentary expose of Haley's work has been banned by U.S. television networks - especially PBS, which would normally welcome such a program.
Coincidentally, the "Roots" anniversary comes amid the growing scandal over disclosures of historian Stephen Ambrose's multiple incidents of plagiarism. Because as Haley himself was forced to acknowledge, a large section of his book - including the plot, main character and scores of whole passages - was lifted from "The African," a 1967 novel by white author Hal Courlander.
But plagiarism is the least of the problems in "Roots." And they would likely have remained largely unknown, had journalist Philip Nobile not undertaken a remarkable study of Haley's private papers shortly before they were auctioned off.
The result was featured in a devastating 1993 cover piece in the Village Voice. It confirmed - from Haley's own notes - earlier claims that the alleged history of the book was a near-total invention.
"Virtually every genealogical claim in Haley's story was false," Nobile has written. None of Haley's early writing contains any reference to his mythic ancestor, "the African" named Kunta Kinte. Indeed, Haley's later notes give his family name as "Kante," not "Kinte."
And a long-suppressed tape of the famous session in which Haley " found" Kunta Kinte through the recitation of an African "griot" proves that, as BBC producer James Kent noted, "the villagers (were) threatened by members of Haley's party. These turn out to be senior government officials desperate to ensure that things go smoothly."
Haley, added Kent, "specifically asks for a story that will fit his predetermined American narrative."
Historical experts who checked Haley's genealogical research discovered that, as one put it, "Haley got everything wrong in his pre-Civil War lineage and none of his plantation ancestors existed; 182 pages have no basis in fact."
Given this damning evidence, you'd think Haley's halo would long ago have vanished. But - given this week's TV tribute - he remains a literary icon. Publicly, at least.
The judge who presided over Haley's plagiarism case admitted that "I did not want to destroy him" and so allowed him to settle quietly - even though, he acknowledged, Haley had repeatedly perjured himself in court.
The Pulitzer Prize board has refused to reconsider Haley's prize, awarded in 1977 - in what former Columbia President William McGill, then a board member, has acknowledged was an example of "inverse racism" by a bunch of white liberals "embarrassed by our makeup."
Yet the uniqueness of "Roots" is that it was presented as factual history, albeit with fictional embellishments. Haley himself stressed that the details came from his family's oral history and had been corroborated by outside documents.
But Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard, a Haley friend, concedes that it's time to "speak candidly," adding that "most of us feel it's highly unlikely that Alex actually found the village from whence his ancestors came. -
sbrnnxn5 September 2003In 1977 I was 10 years old, and all I remember is the majority of the city where I live was watching Roots each day for a week. I recently bought the video and watched it with my now 10 year old son, who is Black and I show him the importance of getting an education because our ancestors weren't allowed such luxuries. At his age everything is rosy just like it was when I was 10, but hopefully he can reflect back on this movie to motivate him in the future.
Great cast of characters-even though I didn't realize that O.J. Simpson was in it! John Amos was the best and the funniest especially when he kept losing his character's African accent and sounding more like "James" on Good Times! Overall the movie is very touching and will have you experiencing mixed emotions if you're of the Black race, and have compassion if you're of other races that haven't experienced such things. I highly recommend this film and a book called the Miseducation of the Negro as Black family heirlooms-or for anyone who wants to be enlightened concerning a portion of Black history. -
erichyoung3 September 2001I grew up in the whitest small town in the upper midwest. I had one fellow minority high grad (out of 800) who was chinese but was adopted and named "Anne Palmquist" - that's how white it was. So I grew up without any minority contact.
My mother made me watch Roots back then so I could visualize what I read about...and it had a positive impact on my little world. Of course it was merely a lesson in my parents greater plan, I'm glad it existed and was aired.
I'd like to see it again as an adult. -
bkoganbing4 September 2015When talking about Roots it's good to keep in mind Woodrow Wilson's praise of D.W. Griffith's Birth Of A Nation. "History written with lightning" were the words of the 28th president for a ground breaking film reflecting his southern upbringing. Something similar should be said about Roots which gives the history of slavery as seen through the eyes of the descendants of Kunte Kinte of which author Alex Haley was one.
Every black male player of the time in 1977 whose name wasn't Sidney Poitier seem to participate here and those who didn't make it to the original production made it to the sequel. The females did just as well. Levar Burton who played the teenage Kunte Kinte was given his first big break and this became one of two career roles for him, the other being Geordi LaForge on Star Trek The Next Generation.
Favorites of mine included John Amos who played the adult Kunte Kinte renamed Toby by his owners. He never forgets his Roots which is the whole basis of the mini-series. But he does become a father. His daughter is played by Leslie Uggams and she's a standout as well. So for me is Lou Gossett, Jr. who played The Fiddler who tries to teach Kunte Kinte aka Toby how to survive. Amos is not a willing pupil to say the least.
The white players here in southern society have some juicy roles as well. My absolute favorite here is Sandy Duncan who is the quintessence of the empty headed southern belle brought up when push comes to shove to regard her slaves as property.
One thing that is rarely discussed about Roots is the tradition in many cultures of oral history. It is his African tradition of that that keeps the generations in touch with the African past. Slave owners were quite specific about not teaching their slaves how to read and write. Illiteracy is a powerful weapon, but it need not be invincible as Roots demonstrates.
The story of Kunte Kinte's descendants takes us to shortly after the Civil War in the Reconstruction Era. This is as much history written with lightning than Birth Of A Nation was in its time.
In fact back in 1915 it would have been impossible to conceive of something like Roots being written and performed. That in itself is a testament as to how far we've come as a society. -
awarlock-1770316 September 2022I was in 7th grade (13 years old) in January of 1977 when I watched this for the 1st time. Since then, Ive watched it several times from beginning to end. It never gets old. Each episode of the series is fantastic. I just finished the 3rd episode tonight, actually. It's the episode Kunta Kinte married Belle and she gave birth to Kizzy. A very heart felt episode, for sure. I know they made a remake of this series, but I have no desire to watch it. Nothing can ever compare to the original. Fantastic casting and fantastic acting all around. Definitely, worthy of 10 out of 10 stars. I knew from the first time watching Levar Burton, he was destined for a lasting and successful acting career. Such a talented guy.
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inskyfire2 February 2020In highschool, I was forced to watch this, and after the second part I kinda lost interest, but about 20 years later I decided to go back and rewatch it, boy I am sure glad I did. I didn't realize back then how important this program was. To me back then, this was just a boring show being forced upon us. As an adult, it means so much more. It really gives you insight to what misery people went through and what people had going on during the slavery issues in Africa and America, and so so much more. This is a must see for everyone.
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Jinxxa_Wolf12 December 2023ROOTS (1977) Where to begin? I'm not here to debate whether this drama was historically accurate or not, or whether there was a scam on the creator / directors part to over-dramatize this series for money and views, or whether the book, by the author Alex Haley, was ever authentic or not, plagiarized or not. I personally do not know all this, at the moment of writing this review. I am just here to review this classic television series as I have seen it, in my own personal opinion.
Having watched this series with my family, I found it to be very moving and touching, the story definitely traumatizing and tragic, but ultimately one of healing and of overcoming. A broken past does not equate to a broken future. This series definitely speaks to the enduring human spirit and the overcoming of extreme and needless suffering. Uplifting to say the least. Survival in some of the harshest of hardships. LeVar Burton was really great in this series as the lead man Kunte Kinte, but also John Amos, as the older Kunte Kinte. Iconic portrayals, both.
Revisionist as it may or may not be, dramatic as it may be, (plagurism or not) it was certainly a stirring dramatized show and one that does allow modern viewers to see glimpses of possibilities of our turbulent and shared past, speaking for the country of the United States of America. And there are many aspects of it that are certainly true, and historically undisputed, for example the inhumane act of buying living people from the many countries of Africa and elsewhere, the life of slavery and servitude, the cruelties of plantation working, (not to mention the vast ammounts of human suffering that came from the wicked and criminal behavior of trying to "own" another human being whose life and breath should have been exclusively their own) etc, perhaps not for the character of Alex Haley's Kunte Kinte, but of many ancestors to the African-American, black community.
Overall, as a fictional period drama, and as a series focusing on an all black cast, it was certainly worth the watch. I wish there were more like it, especially more historically accurate versions. It would be great to see more authentic black historical dramas in general, backed by official historians and academia scholars (rather than the generic blackwashed / whitewashed sugar-coated garbage that hollywood seems to dish out). Still, it was a great watch. -
ShadeGrenade9 January 2009When the American mini-series 'Roots' debuted on B.B.C.-1 in 1978, I was pretty cynical. Here we go again, I thought, yet another overblown soap opera, 'Rich Man, Poor Man' Mark Two. I do not know what compelled me to tune in for the first instalment, but am so glad I did, else I would have then missed one of the greatest series of all time.
Based on the book by Alex Haley, the story begins with his ancestor Kunta Kinte ( LeVar Burton ) disobeying his father's advice by venturing beyond the perimeters of his African village to find wood with which to make a drum for his baby brother. He is caught by slave traders, who ship him back to the United States in the most appalling conditions imaginable to begin a new life as a slave called 'Toby'. The scene where Kunta is incarcerated in chains and screams at the top of his lungs is one of the most harrowing ever broadcast, and shocks still.
Making repeated escape attempts, Kunta has part of his foot chopped off. Years pass, and he marries another slave named Bell ( Madge Sinclair ), and they have a daughter called Kizzy ( Leslie Uggams ). She is taught to read and write by the spoilt daughter of her owner, a fact that ultimately leads to her being sold off to the disgusting Tom Moore ( Chuck Connors ), a man who thinks nothing of having sex with his female slaves.
I will leave the synopsis here. 'Roots' is an epic that spans decades, taking in major historical events such as the American Civil War, and although grim for most of the time ends on a note of optimism for the future. It brought history to life in a way no book could ever hope to do. My knowledge of the shameful age of slavery was increased a thousandfold. With race riots having been in the news only a few years earlier, it made me think: "my God, no wonder the blacks hate us.".
It took stick from some quarters over historical accuracy. While it is true that the African village seen at the start of the series was like something out of an old 'Tarzan' movie the sense that a monstrous injustice had been committed was there. Yes, Haley took liberties ( it is called 'artistic licence' ), but did not invent slavery. He did not need to because it actually happened. If nitpickers want to remain blinkered to the evils of history, that's fine by me. As long as they do not expect everyone else in the world to think the same way.
John Amos as the adult 'Kunta', Lou Gossett Jr as 'Fiddler', Leslie Uggams as 'Kizzy', and, in particular, Ben Vereen as 'Chicken George' were brilliant, and the show not only was viewed by the highest audience in American history ( at that time ), but also won countless awards, including the prestigious Peabody ( which Bill O'Reilly later claimed to have won! ).
I doubt it but hope Enoch Powell ( and those cretins who marched in support of his extreme views ) was among the millions who saw it in Britain.
Interestingly, 1978 was also the year in which 'The Black & White Minstrel Show' ( a singing/dancing variety show starring white performers in minstrel make-up ) ended after a twenty-year run. After 'Roots', those hand-waving 'yassuh, boss!' stereotypes were no longer welcome on our screens.
Though repeated several times, 'Roots' has not been seen here for years, but thankfully is on D.V.D. It should be compulsive viewing in all schools. -
mozartwwr8 January 2018There are so many that take this mini series as an empirical truth, in the end Mr. Haley committed the worst sin of an author.
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lawrence-1415 December 1999This is an appeal to everyone on the planet. If you have never seen ROOTS, then see it as soon as possible. The greatest TV mini series of all time, the way how Alex Haley's roots are told, from the start at the birth of Kunta Kinte in the African village of Juffare, is an experience that cannot be missed. ROOTS is an immortal masterpiece that has certainly appealed and inspired most of those that have seen it. So, if your local video store don't have a copy, just buy it!. It is more than worth the money, i promise you.
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Over 45 years later while looking at this landmark miniseries I see it was the most POORLY cast of all!
Ben Vereen playing an 18 year old, at over 30, Leslie Uggams as his mother was only 3 years older than him!
I do not think it would have been as badly cast nowdays, but they did the best they could ,it was the 70s! -
bigverybadtom14 October 2023I remember all the fuss over this when I was a boy. Ah, the story of Alex Haley, a modern-day black person having traced his roots to his African slave ancestors! And the saga being told in Haley's 1976 book which in turn would be made into a TV miniseries, some of which I watched. I only saw part of it, but I would find out years later that the whole thing was just a fiction and ripped off from a book titled "The African", a book by a white author who covered various cultures throughout his career, and who sued Haley for plagiarism, with a settlement out of court. The story of Haley going to Africa and finding his ancestral village there also would turn out to be a fraud. Kunta Kinte was not even a real person.
Even what I saw of the TV series turned out to be false. White people did not go deep into Africa to capture slaves; they did not have to. There was already a developed network from millennia ago which sold slaves to Arabs; it was well in existence long before the first white customers, who could simply go to the coast of Africa and buy the slaves they wanted.
"Dances With Wolves" and "The Autobiography Of Sarah Jane Pittman" at least admitted to being fiction. Unfortunately, this pretends to be reality. If there is a realistic depiction of the African slave trade, I would like to see that. -
Mrj7218821 January 2002I first became interested in Roots when I heard about it on the Disney Channel movie "The Color of Friendship" in 2001. The next time it resurfaced was in Jan. 2002, when Hallmark was going to reair it. Rather than wait (and waste tape) for every night, I bought it on DVD. It is amazing how the crew acheived the dream of Alex Haley's ancestors horrid past, from slave capture to auction, to escape to crippling, to being sold and death. The one thing that shocked me the most was how the KKK was involved in that family's life. When there were funny moments, I laughed and when there were sad moments, I wept. To sum it up: Roots is a masterful miniseries that no family should be without.