But I think it needs a re-think. I'm not even going to name it publicly for fear of the more violent racists attacking this post. But it is a movie I think everybody with children, of any skin color, need to watch.
Some hints on why I think this movie is EXTREMELY important to any honest study on racism, the sexual revolution, and an understanding of the massive contribution that African Americans made to the pre-civil-war south.
In no particular order:
- This movie is based on a book that wasn't actually what it seemed to be. It was put forth as a children's book, but it was the first book to record the mythology, wisdom, and learning brought from West Africa by people that even the anti-racists today think of as slaves.
- The main character is white, but going through the trauma and destruction of the divorce of his parents. It is only the tales of the African Americans that help.
- The only other white human beings in the movie are the father and the mother (the father skips out early) and the grandmother. Grandpa is dead- and one of the African Americans has very much taken over, not as an overseer, but as a wise father figure.
- The three most important secondary characters- in fact the majority of characters in the movie- are African American.
- Once the main character starts in listening to the African Americans- so do all the other white children they meet. In fact, very much, the most caring parent figure in the entire movie is African American.
- It's a musical. I don't know how much the songs in it are anything close to what you would have heard on a cotton plantation in the 1840s, but for a movie from right after WWII, it's as wonderful as you'd expect from any musical from that era- full orchestras and lyrics that actually fit the story line quite well.
- Ebonics. The original antebellum Ebonics is completely preserved in both this movie and the series of books it was based on. That is part of the reason why the copyright owner hasn't touched it with a ten foot pole since the mid 1980s, and it never got released on DVD. Some people back in the 1980s thought it made all the African American characters sound ignorant- but it's a very important creole language to preserve.
- This version you can download and burn to DVD yourself- it's a fresh digitization from an original 35mm reel that somebody found in the closet of a closed theater in full HD.
- Only people over the age of 35 will remember the last time this was on television- and even then....they were quite small. I suspect most people reading this post heard that this movie was censored due to racism- without ever seeing it.
- Grandma is a stubborn old woman and a bit of a racist- she is in charge of the plantation after all- but she tries to remind Grandpa African American that he has power too- and is helping as best he can to get the family back together.
- The simple pleasures of bringing a frog into the house.
- Uncomfortable fancy clothes on a 6 year old.
- Riding horses on sticks.
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