What a character....the man was leading such a life of excess that the dude had the gaute from eating anything and everything .....This is based on a true story-so this kid was probably one of hundreds of pre Civil War Southern Gents who were bamboozled out of their birth right.
It's hard to believe that people's lives were delt like a stack of cards....won and lost on a whim.
The judge's behavior (over-consumption leading to gout) isn't much different than people today who smoke, use drugs, or drink while in the midst of suffering from the effects of smoking, drugs, and drinking. It's part of human nature.
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I had no idea the movie was based on a true story but I figured there were probably elements of truth in it.
Humans have a natural tendency to distinguish and separate 'us versus them' but it doesn't always break along racial, gender, national or other 'obvious' lines. 'Us' generally refers to people with whom we're familiar or comfortable while 'them' refers to everyone else.
This movie did a good job reminding us of that. The family owned slaves which wasn't a great thing but a fact of life at that time. Still, the plantation was run compassionately. The family treated the slaves with respect and kindness. The slaves, in turn, had a certain respect and affection for the family as well. The kids played together and everyone seemed to get along well.
By contrast, the people who were ready and willing to cheat the kid out of his birthright and inheritance couldn't have cared less that they were the same race or that he was a mere child. They would have sold him too if they could have figured out how to get away with it.