The castration scene


I found this the most disturbing scene in the entire film but nobody else seems to be mentioning it - so can I be the only on......? What I found so disturbing is not the castration itself - which takes place if I remember rightly offscreem inside a barn - but the carnival-like atmosphere of all the other black slaves. Theres certainly no empathy here for their "brother" about to get his balls sliced off! Far from it! Everybody seems to thinks its hoot! Especially the fat black woman who is telling us what is about to happen - and can't control her laughter and enjoyment at the prospect! Probably the most disturbing image of all however is the pubescent black boy running around waving the massive castrating scissors above his head. Does anybody think it could have really been as gross and nasty as this.

reply

But in my "director's cut" of the film, it's not a fat black woman telling us what is about to happen. It's a fat white German woman with horrible teeth.

reply

Yes you're right - I remember now - it was a fat German woman - its been a time since I've raked up the courage to watch that scene again so I obviously got things confused. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.

reply

I think it probably was every bit this horrific. The laughing slaves were utterly defeated and broken and looked upon the castration to be fine entertainment.

reply