Queen

Enjoyed the miniseries very much, especially the excellent cinematography, score, clothing design, landscape scenes, etc. The historical era is also excellent to explore. The drama does not try to gain converts, but is even-handed given the sensitive topics. I lowered my score because, even though it is a drama that is trying to appeal to a broad television audience, the actors were always far too well-dressed for 1850s. They were always mostly clean-shaven, with the women having clean, beautiful hair. Slaves wore dirty, tattered and wrinkled clothes but you never saw any dirty, worn-out clothes in this film. Lastly, the plot for the first half of the film before the outbreak of war is far too synonymous with the plot in the movie Mandingo (1975); practically an exact copy. I was shocked. Overall, Queen is very good.

The rule of thumb about sequels is that they're never as good as the original; Queen is no exception. This 3-part miniseries follows the other half of Alex Haley's family tree, but it's not nearly as entertaining, emotional, or well made as Roots. And while quite a few stars made up the supporting cast, the main fault lies in the title character played by Halle Berry. In her first leading role, it's clear she's no actress. She came from a background of beauty pageants, not acting training, and it shows. I actually felt sorry for the veteran actors beside her. Just as I'm sure they were excited to be cast in the sequel to Roots, no doubt they were embarrassed to be seen in the final production.

If you can get past the leading character with an enormous lack of talent who puts no motivation behind her character and struggles talking with an uneducated slave dialect, you'll learn about the other side of Alex Haley's lineage. It starts in the 1850s. A white landowner's son is engaged to a proper white lady in town, but he's also having an affair with one of his slaves. When a daughter is born, she's very light-skinned and is moved to the big house as a companion to his pure white daughter. Martin Sheen and Ann-Margret are the grandparents, Tim Daly and Jasmine Guy are the parents, and Patricia Clarkson is Tim's wife who knows the truth but is powerless to banish the illegitimate daughter from the house. As the years progress and war threatens their way of life, Queen learns the difference between white and black worlds. Eventually, when the war is over, she leaves the plantation to head north. Her life path takes turns of sorrow as she meets up with various characters: Ossie Davis, Dennis Haysbert, Lonette McKee, Elizabeth Wilson, Victor Garber, Richard Jenkins, Jake Krakowski, Madge Sinclair, Lorraine Toussaint, Paul Winfield, and Danny Glover.

Parts of the miniseries seem uneventful, and some of them are horrifically upsetting. Just be prepared when you watch this: it's not Roots. You won't form a bond with any of the characters, and you probably won't insist your friends watch it. It could have been a lot better with one little casting choice: the woman who played Queen.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to racial language and graphic racial violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

There are two sides to every story the saying goes. For Alex Haley one side was roots the towering chronicle tracing Severn generations of his mother's family. The other side comes to the screen in Alex Haley's Queen the remarkable history of a paternal side of the author's family. David L. Wolper (Roots The Thorn Birds) is the executive producer of this acclaimed adaption of the story Haley was working on when he died. Halle Berry plays Queen daughter of a slave (Jasmine Guy) and a plantation owner (Tim Daly). During the turbulent decades of the antebellum South the Civil war Reconstruction and beyond she searches for a home in the two cultures of her heritage - and at times is shunned by both. Rejection and hate are no match for her unconquerable will however. Ann-Margret Danny Glover and Ossie Davis are among the many stars of this poignant uplifting final chapter of the Haley legacy.

Alex Haley's grandmother Queen's life portrayed in a grand production. Halle Berry brings to life all of the pains and sorrows of a life of grand adventure and deep dispair.

No expense or detail is spared in this spellbinding tale of life as it used to be in the deep south.

Wow! Wait...Wait.WOW!

It is very interesting that a lot of the actors that played memorable characters in the film have pretty good careers today. I was looking at the list and I was like, "He was not in that film!" "WHAT".

Again, if you look at my other comments, you will know that I love epic films and this was another one my parents just bothered to record when it played on TV years ago. (I really need to thank my parents for taking the time one of these days.) Again, this is a film I last saw in 1998. I made sure I watched it when I left it, stupidly enough, so that I could remember the entire thing as long as possible. Halle was awesome, her attitude, body language, speech, she was made for this role, and I could say vice versa. This is the one movie that made me acknowledge the fact (when she was still Oscarless) that she indeed deserved, and would soon be getting an Oscar. She conveyed the passion and pain of her character's journey. Indeed, I cannot distinguish Halle from Queen in my mind, they are synonymous. It was well written, well casted, and well received by me. If you doubt me, take a look at the full casting list and you might be surprised. If you can, watch it!

I must add that the only reason why I left these two films behind is because I was so sure they were big here and would be easy to find/buy. I am so sorry I was wrong. It's just another reflection on America's media content choices. Films with history, meat, and bone often get neglected and relegated to the bottom feeders. I guess because they are educational to some degree...hey, don't hate, be honest, I think it's true.