Unchained Memories (Dol)

Starring:Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Michael Boatman, Roscoe Lee Browne, Don Cheadle, Sandra Daley, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Robert Guillaume, Jasmine Guy, Samuel L. Jackson, CCH Pounder, LaTanya Richardson, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Roger Guenveur Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Vanessa L. Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Alfre Woodard
Director: Thomas Lennon (II), Ed Bell (III), Edward Bell (III)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The material used for this beautifully made HBO documentary dates back to the 1930s, when journalists conducted thousands of interviews with former slaves who'd been emancipated at the end of the Civil War. A selection of these faithfully transcribed "slave narratives" are vividly read (acted, really) here by a host of distinguished performers, ranging from Samuel L. Jackson to Oprah Winfrey, from Don Cheadle to Angela Bassett, with narration by Whoopi Goldberg. Since there's obviously no film available from the slave period, the producers use artfully edited photos, file footage, some atmospheric new film, and shots of the performers in action to bring the material to life. Add all of that to the DVD bonus features (text bios of individual slaves and a couple of lengthy audio segments), and you have a moving record of bitter, weary, yet resilient and quietly proud people living with memories that never would, or could, fade. --Sam Graham

Description

When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the Library of Congress. These first-person anecdotes, ranging from the brutal to the bittersweet, have been brought to vivid life in this unique HBO documentary special, featuring the on-camera voices of over a dozen top African-American actors.

Customer Reviews:

Unchained Memories.......2007-05-16

I love this DVD it is an excellent representation of the plight of African Americans from slavery until present.

Slavery Commentaries.......2007-02-08

Spoken history from those who lived it. Very good book. Interesting. Educational. The facts from the slaves themselves. Awesome reading.

voices from the past.......2007-01-25

The end of the Civil War in 1865 freed about 4 million slaves in America, a significant number of whom lived into the 1940s. During the Depression, the Federal Writers Project hired people to interview and record first person narratives from these former slaves, the last first-hand resource that could document their experiences. Today the Library of Congress houses 2,000 such interviews, in their original "dialect" and broken English, in the simply-titled Slave Narratives. This film uses original still photographs, contemporary re-enactments, slave music, a running commentary by Whoopi Goldberg, and, most notably and thus the film's title, dramatic readings of those original slave narratives by contemporary African-American actors and actresses like Oprah Winfrey. In just over an hour you learn about the daily horrors of slave life from those who lived to tell of it--relentless work, horrendous housing and diet, the denial of education, sexual violence, and how the "masters" used Christianity to keep their slaves passive. This is a deeply moving film about our nation's very recent past. I recommend watching it in conjunction with the seven-part PBS documentary on the civil rights movement called Eyes on the Prize.

Touched my heart.......2006-09-09

This is a beautiful documentary that touches on a small element of how slavery was from the exact words of ex slaves. It is impossible to embody how the whole experience was from the tales of the slaves that appeared in the books and in the movie. But this movie does a good job on exposng some of the main facts and atrocities that were committed against africans in amerikkka. This movie needs to be shown in all academic arenas as well as homes to expose how africans have been treated for the past 700 years.

This disappointed me..........2006-03-22

This disappointed me..., March 21, 2006
Reviewer: Thom (Polk County, Florida) - See all my reviews
If this film centered on the actual slaves, rather than the ACTORS making narration, it would have been a very powerful documentary. While reading it should have focused on the drawings, and dipictions. When I saw a great deal of the YOUNG actors on a chair reciting prose-to me it seemed more to accentuate the actors rather than what the text was saying.

Just the fact that slavery existed under the United States Constitution shows how law can be manipulated in any way those in power want it to be and the goverment can do whatever they want and get away with it. Remember it was legal only 200 years ago, and suppression and rediculous repression of human beings based on race existed even in the 1970's. And it was legal back then.

Based on the horrible adverse treatment of slaves, it showed the majority of southern businessmen were very POOR businessmen. THink about it--they spent HUGE--and I mean HUGE quantities--of money ($800 or $1000 was a vast fortune back in the 1800's) only to beat and starve and work them to death like, they are not protecting their investments. You would think common sense dictates if one spent vast fortunes, they would want to CARE for their investment (feed them, clothe them adequately, gave them proper shelter, etc). No, these businessmen starved and tortured their investments. I guess they had money to throw away. This lack of business sense probably is a reason why the south lost.

The slave trade was a big business back then. Huge quantities of slaves were NOT captured in Africa, but were sold to the white slave traders by their own people. And yes Africans kept slaves too--blacks enslaved blacks.

Interesting to note even Abraham Lincoln cared less about the existance of slavery but wrote the Emancipation Proclamation only as a political ploy to not get European nations involved, and that the Civil war was, in reality, only to keep the north and south united and not form a separate government.

Back to the documentary-yes it disappointed me. I didn't know what showing the actors sitting and reciting proved. The actor's faces should not have been shown at all. It distracted from the real theme of memories of slavery. These actors should have been faceless and not seen. Unless they wanted to play dipictions rather than just SIT and READ.

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