MovieChat Forums > Free State of Jones (2016) Discussion > BOAN coming out people scared..FSOJ come...

BOAN coming out people scared..FSOJ comes out people are fine..


The Nat Turner story gets picked up and its about a slave revolt where the slaves do it for themselves. No white person had to lead them or instruct them or give tacit permission for them to do it and people lose their minds! WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP BRINGING BACK SLAVERY!! THIS IS NOT GOING TO DO ANY GOOD FOR RACE RELATIONS TODAY!! BLAH BLAH...

FSOJ comes out about a white man leading a revolt during the slave era and nearly NO ONE comments about how its yet another slave story or how it re opens old wounds etc etc..

BLACK MAN LEADS AN ARMED REVOLT = PROBLEMS FOR AMERICA
WHITE MAN LEADS AN ARMED REVOLT = GOOD SOLID STORYTELLING.


I see how this goes now....

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Well considering this movie isn't about fighting against slavery I'm not seeing the issue.

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of course...the blacks in it who happen to be slaves fighting for their freedom is just a huge coinky dink..😏

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They aren't fighting to free slaves though, you clearly haven't seen the movie though so I'm done with you.

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if anyone hasn't clearly understood anything its you.

in any case the synopsis

Set during the Civil War, Free State of Jones tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordinary armed rebellion against the Confederacy. Banding together with other small farmers and local slaves, Knight launched an uprising that led Jones County, Mississippi to secede from the Confederacy, creating a Free State of Jones. Knight continued his struggle into Reconstruction, distinguishing him as a compelling, if controversial, figure of defiance long beyond the War.

Its during the era so it counts..

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And where in that synopsis does it say they are fighting to free slaves? I've actually seen the movie, unlike you.

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I didn't say they were fighting to free slaves I said the movie takes place during the slave era. And slaves were certainly involved in the revolt (clearly wanting to free themselves).

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Yeah you were comparing this to Birth of a Nation which is a movie about a slave rebellion that's intent was to free slaves. Besides the movies being based on true events they have nothing in common.

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except they occur during the slavery era..and the blacks involved are slaves fighting for freedom..but youre right they have nothing in common😏

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So I guess Glory and Amistad are similar movies as well?

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I never said BOAN and FSOJ were the same movie...reread the first post.

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I guess you need to read because I didn't say that either. You're claiming they are similar even though they couldn't be more different and based on your very words, Glory and Amistad must be similar as well because they are both about blacks fighting against slavery.

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Actually it take place during the Civil War.

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there were slaves during the civil war..its still in the slavery era.

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This show is about the Civil War not about slavery. You have implied that this is about the fight to end slavery and it is not. Saving Private Ryan was not about the Holocaust yet it was the Holocaust era.

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This show is about the Civil War not about slavery. You have implied that this is about the fight to end slavery and it is not. Saving Private Ryan was not about the Holocaust yet it was the Holocaust era.


the movie is about armed resistance during the civil war in the slavery era. But only white men get to be the focus and heroes of an armed resistance story..if blacks do it its with white help.. never on their own.

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In this movie it's actually about the white Southerner's that revolted against the Confederates and the black people joined them in the fight. This movie isn't about a slavery revolt.

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Birth seems like it's trying its darndest to start a race war by getting blacks even more angry towards white people because of something that happened a long time ago.

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Birth seems like it's trying its darndest to start a race war by getting blacks even more angry towards white people because of something that happened a long time ago.


it doesn't take a movie to make that happen and you don't have to go back to the slave era..enough went down between 1900 and 2000 alone.

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Yeah, this movie was about people fighting for their homes and their possessions and all that. The Nat Turner story I hear has a lot more killing (women and children I hear) so it makes sense it would be more controversial. I'm really into movies and reviewing different kinds and stuff, this was;t too good, i'm excited for the Nat Turner story though.

Trying to create a funny, engaging YouTube channel. If you guys check it out, hope you enjoy what you see. Thanks in advance.

Review of the film here- https://youtu.be/BwQavdiJro4

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The difference between the two stories is enormous. Southern Unionists inarguably shortened the Civil War by obliging the Confederacy to expend military forces trying to quell uprisings (Jones wasn't the only one).

Nat Turner killed a lot of people but probably more slaves than whites were eventually murdered because of his rebellion. His rebellion lasted a very short period of time, much shorter than in Jones.

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The difference between the two stories is enormous. Southern Unionists inarguably shortened the Civil War by obliging the Confederacy to expend military forces trying to quell uprisings (Jones wasn't the only one).

Nat Turner killed a lot of people but probably more slaves than whites were eventually murdered because of his rebellion. His rebellion lasted a very short period of time, much shorter than in Jones.



the difference is in one a black man takes control of his life and rebels

and in the other a white man does the same..but only one is viewed as threatening and the other a heroic romp.

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Turner didn't just kill the slaveowners he killed little kids too. Plenty of black children were murdered by whites so if you can understand the desire for vengeance, child killers don't win popularity contests. Knight and his band killed soldiers and tax collectors. Nobody likes tax collectors. Also some of the "men" in Knight's band that the Confederacy lynched were young boys, kids in fact. So the Confederacy were child killers too.

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Turner didn't just kill the slaveowners he killed little kids too. Plenty of black children were murdered by whites so if you can understand the desire for vengeance, child killers don't win popularity contests. Knight and his band killed soldiers and tax collectors. Nobody likes tax collectors. Also some of the "men" in Knight's band that the Confederacy lynched were young boys, kids in fact. So the Confederacy were child killers too.


The hate that hate produced..thats all. The "he killed women and children" counterpoint doesn't compare to the amount of black kids and women killed up to that point and therefore doesn't move me. How many atrocities did turner witness or endured as a child himself?

Some people want to describe him as insane but what Nat Turner did wasn't insane..it was the sanest thing to do under those circumstances (and no less than any white man would have done in the same position) the problem was he didn't do it big enough..

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Has OP seen the movie? The slaves were already using the confusion brought on by the civil war to free themselves. They already had a somewhat underground RR. Knight inadvertently hooked up with the slaves and used his white privilege to assist them.

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...Knight's purpose was not to free the slaves. Knight and the slaves quickly saw they could help each other achieve their separate and independent goals. Kight was fighting for his farm and way of life. Knight thought Slavery vwas wrong, but that's not why he lead a revolt.

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Exactly. The whole thing was about people being forced to fight and their crops and hard work in order for the plantation owners to stay rich. As is states in the movie, the Confederates were suppose to take 10% from everyone, in reality they were leaving 10% to the poor farmers and then they would turn around and not take that much from the plantations. And since those people were fighting in part to keep their slaves, and the fact that the poor farmers didn't have slaves, what was the point of them fighting if their families can't even survive off of their own land?

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the circumstances of the revolt is besides the point. FSOJ is something we've ALWAYS seen..whenever stories or movies made of that era its always about white men taking up guns and swords and leading the way for their freedom.

Any stories or movies made with nonwhite leads are usually on some nonviolent lets just talk it out role BOAN maybe the first time hollywood allowed a movie set in the slave era that shows a black man revolting using violent means.

I summed up the point in the first post:

BLACK MAN LEADS AN ARMED REVOLT = PROBLEMS FOR AMERICA
WHITE MAN LEADS AN ARMED REVOLT = GOOD SOLID STORYTELLING.

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Why don't you just go see the movie instead of fantasizing about what you think it's about.

2 of the 3 lead actors in this movie are black. They play heroic characters.

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who is the star of the movie? whose face is on the posters? who would get best actor nomination come award season?

Its not about blacks not playing prominent roles in the movie (blacks play a prominent role in american history)..its about who the focus is on or who is responsible for the push for freedom and self determination and HOW that story gets told. In Glory even tho Denzel was prominent it was a matthew broderick lead story. A story about a white office leading black troops.

Hell even in Django Unchained even tho jamie foxx is the lead much of the film shows christoph waltz's character taking charge and giving django tacit permission to do anything. Will Smith turned down the role because he said:

"Django wasn't the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead," Smith told Entertainment Weekly while promoting his new science fiction film After Earth. "The other character was the lead! I was like, 'No, Quentin, please, I need to kill the bad guy!'"

12 Years a Slave has a black lead and is a true story...but the guy couldn't escape slavery on his own..he had to be saved by a white man. Amistad another true story showed a rebellion on a slave ship but much of the film has the blacks in jail while white men argue for their freedom.

Do you know how many blacks successfully escaped slavery on their own...how many concocted revolts and plans on their own... those stories are never produced in hollywood the way the white savior/white man takes his destiny in his own hands during the same era stories are produced.

There's a marked difference in how white character lead or focused stories are presented and perceived and how black lead or focused stories are presented and perceived..

I'll say it again..

BLACK MAN LEADS AN ARMED REVOLT = PROBLEMS FOR AMERICA
WHITE MAN LEADS AN ARMED REVOLT = GOOD SOLID STORYTELLING.

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Go see the movie. Then we'll talk, And Tarantino's dumbass (and racist) Django has got nothing to do with this movie.

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you either fail to understand or refuse to get what I'm talking about..

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Will Smith is an idiot because Django is very much the lead in that movie. Django, being black and all, has to pretend to be a slave in order to get what he wants.

Yes, Matthew is the lead here because the story is about Newton Knight and guess who plays Newton Knight, oh yes, Matthew does.

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Will Smith is an idiot because Django is very much the lead in that movie. Django, being black and all, has to pretend to be a slave in order to get what he wants.


wiki synopsis:
The Speck brothers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, who asks to buy one of the slaves.

King insists on honourably paying Dicky a fair price for Django before leaving him at the mercy of the newly-freed slaves, who kill him and follow the North Star to freedom.

As Django can identify the Brittle brothers, Schultz offers him his freedom in exchange for help tracking them down.

After tracking and killing the Brittles, the liberated Django (adopting the surname "Freeman") partners with Schultz through the winter and becomes his apprentice;

Schultz explains that he feels responsible for Django since Django is the first person he has ever freed, and felt morally obliged to help Django (whom he described as a "real-life Siegfried") reunite with Broomhilda

this thoroughly establishes shultz as the savior of django and sets up the actions in the second half of film..without any of those things happening django is just a broken slave. He can't escape on his own or do anything without the help of a nice white man.

Yes, Matthew is the lead here because the story is about Newton Knight and guess who plays Newton Knight, oh yes, Matthew does.


again you fail to see my point..hollywood produces those kinds of stories a dime a dozen whether its mcconauhey or tom cruise or mel gibson or kevin costner, jude law or even milquetoast matthew broderick its the story of the of a white man who takes up the gun and kills for his freedom..

A black man can't do that UNLESS ITS IN CONJUNCTION WITH or under a white man's lead..otherwise its perceived and received as threatening.

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This is an interesting discussion but I think there's a point here that you are failing to mention.

What you are insisting is that a movie cannot have a white actor acting in a benevolent manner toward a black character. Or that a white actor cannot play the lead in a movie where there are supporting black actors.

I am very supportive of black actors taking the lead. A good example is the film of The Dark Tower where Idris Elba is playing the hero as Roland the Gunslinger - a role Stephen King wrote for a white man. In that film, Matthew McConaughey is playing a subordinate role as the villain, i.e. The Man in Black. Industry websites reported McConaughey was offered both roles, chose the bad guy and only agreed to sign on if Idris Elba was cast as Roland. Now, that is a fine example of what you are lobbying for. Maybe you could go onto The Dark Tower IMDb page (which I now avoid like the plague) to quarrel with all the posters who are up in arms that Elba is playing Roland. They are furious at the colorblind casting.

It has now become politically incorrect for white filmmakers to make films about black lives. Which means that only black filmmakers can film stories about black characters. Otherwise, it is cultural appropriation. And it is now politically incorrect for? films to feature supporting black actors. They need to be the leads. Do you realize most roles in movies are supporting? What you are lobbying for would inevitably result in fewer black actors getting roles? This would end up being a new kind of segregation in movies: like "Straight Outta Compton", black films by black filmmakers for black audiences?

Let's talk about Will Smith, a man who often has a white actress as his leading lady. Don't you find it offensive that black actresses (who have a MUCH harder time than black actors) are losing out roles to Margot Robbie? How many films have you seen where a white actor plays opposite a black leading lady (like in this film)? Not common at all. And, frankly, this shores up the stereotype of the black male celebrity with blonde arm candy.

As a woman I'd also point out that women - like black men - have rarely had important historical roles to play. Why? Because women - like black men - have been oppressed for most of history (and still are in many countries today). I can understand feeling bitter about the fact there are so few examples of women in historical films leading independent lives, becoming heroes in their own right - and women are and always have been the majority of the world's population. It's a damn shame we can't politically correct history. But we can't.

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What you are insisting is that a movie cannot have a white actor acting in a benevolent manner toward a black character. Or that a white actor cannot play the lead in a movie where there are supporting black actors.

thats not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying the vast majority of the stories and movies coming out of hollywood are either told from a white savior position or the benevolent white helper.

Name a story in the last 20, 30 years set in the slave era that shows blacks taking action on their own. By themselves For Themselves not because some nice white person told them to or gave them the idea or was key to their plans. BOAN is something unprecedented IMO. Its also something that makes ALOT of people uncomfortable. I don't care if the revolt was successful or not I want to see a film that shows black people doing it for themselves win or lose. Thats what Brave heart showed.

The Scottish fought British tyranny for themselves and they LOST and William Wallace was killed, Hell, the film ends with us seeing his torture and execution. But that doesn't matter that man and his people stood up for themselves and fought and they didn't have to partner up with or need some English person to help them or give permission that it was okay or defend them against English rule. Brave heart shows those particular white people taking their lives and destiny into their own hands. And if they have to die doing it then so be it. Thats the image and message white people project to themselves and the world all the time. Its the message of 300 and King Leonidas, its the message of Gladiator. Its the message of any number of civil war stories including FSOJ. White people LOVE movies where theyre seen making a life or death fight against all odds and saying we're willing to kill and die for what they believe in. Thats their message to the world.

But that same message is something that whites are clearly uncomfortable with others doing. Like I said BOAN seems to be the first of its kind and its interesting seeing how the public accepts it. I'm seeing comment sections where people are like "this isn't going to help anything..." or "this is just going cause people to be upset and do something.." Why does a film like this cause that kind of reaction?
It has now become politically incorrect for white filmmakers to make films about black lives. Which means that only black filmmakers can film stories about black characters. Otherwise, it is cultural appropriation. And it is now politically incorrect for? films to feature supporting black actors. They need to be the leads. Do you realize most roles in movies are supporting? What you are lobbying for would inevitably result in fewer black actors getting roles? This would end up being a new kind of segregation in movies: like "Straight Outta Compton", black films by black filmmakers for black audiences?

Put it this way..how would the jewish community feel if a non jew made shindler's list? How would italians feel if a non italian made goodfellas? I'm not lobbying or demanding that blacks always be the lead or anything like that. I'm saying that american history consists of more than white men doing everything. And the stories coming out of hollywood dealing with slave era whether its civil war story or antebellum slavery story invariably slant toward how the white people do anything or feel about anything and most importantly how white people FIGHT, arm themselves and FIGHT against any threat or oppressor. But a story focusing on blacks or other nonwhites (indians, mexicans, asians etc) shows them peacefully asking, or suffering in dignified silence but they NEVER FIGHT, they NEVER PICK UP ARMS AND ATTACK their oppressors unless theres some nice white person in the vicinity to help them in some way.
Let's talk about Will Smith, a man who often has a white actress as his leading lady. Don't you find it offensive that black actresses (who have a MUCH harder time than black actors) are losing out roles to Margot Robbie? How many films have you seen where a white actor plays opposite a black leading lady (like in this film)? Not common at all. And, frankly, this shores up the stereotype of the black male celebrity with blonde arm candy.

As far as Will Smith is concerned..in films where his love interest doesn't have a significant role or is one of many like ensemble casts its usually a black woman..

Films where Will Smiths Character SO has minor role in the story:

ID4 - viv foxx - big ensemble cast - black woman
Enemy Of The State - wife is minor role - regina king - black woman
Ali - bio pic - it is what is - black women
Pursuit of Happyness - wife has minor role - Thandie Newton - black woman
I Am Legend - wife has minor role - Salli Richardson - black woman
Seven Pounds - wife has minor role - Robinne Lee - black woman

Films where Will Smiths character SO has major role in story:

Wild Wild West - love interest has major role - Salma Hayek - latina
MIB 2 - love interest has major role - Rosario Dawson - latina
Hitch - love interest has major role - Eva Mendes - latina
I Am Legend - possible love interest and ONLY SURVIVING ADULT FEMALE in the film - Alice Braga - latina
Seven Pounds - love interest has major role - Rosario Dawson - latina

Films where Will Smiths character has significant contact with a white women:

I, Robot - white woman with major role - Bridget Moynahan - platonic

Hancock - white woman with major role - Charlize Theron - may as well be platonic

Bad Boys - white woman with major role - Tea Leoni - never realized on screen

Men In Black - white woman with major role - Linda Fiorentino - professional relationship

Focus is the FIRST film where Smith has a romantic white female love interest

A bit of trivia Casting Will Smith’s love interest in “Hitch” was not a simple black or white decision.

Eva Mendes was given the role opposite Smith because the moviemakers were worried about the public’s reaction if the part was given to a white or an African American actress, according to Smith. The actor is saying that it was feared that a black couple would have put off worldwide audiences whereas a white/African American combo would have offended viewers in the U.S.

“There’s sort of an accepted myth that if you have two black actors, a male and a female, in the lead of a romantic comedy, that people around the world don’t want to see it,” Smith told the British paper, the Birmingham Post while promoting the flick overseas. “We spend $50-something million making this movie and the studio would think that was tough on their investment. So the idea of a black actor and a white actress comes up — that’ll work around the world, but it’s a problem in the U.S.”

Eva Mendes — who is of Cuban descent — was seen as a solution because apparently, the black/Latina combination is not considered taboo.

Sony didn’t return calls for comment.

http://www.today.com/id/7019342#.UXWGzaKR9IU
As a woman I'd also point out that women - like black men - have rarely had important historical roles to play. Why? Because women - like black men - have been oppressed for most of history (and still are in many countries today). I can understand feeling bitter about the fact there are so few examples of women in historical films leading independent lives, becoming heroes in their own right - and women are and always have been the majority of the world's population. It's a damn shame we can't politically correct history. But we can't.

women and people of color have played significant roles in american history and world history.. its just that usually the people telling the story or who have the means to broadcast it to the same degree as white men can aren't people of color or women..

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If you are going to film fiction, you can make the story anything you want. The issue is when a film is based on historic events. This one is. So is Birth of a Nation. You act like the two films are opening on the same weekend (I have to say some of the critics did too) and people have to choose which movie they want to see.

People can see this movie and Birth of Nation you know. Birth takes place in 1830, this film takes place from 1862 - 1873. They are not the same stories, they are not the same period nor the same characters. I fail to understand what your issue is with this movie - which you have obviously not seen.

People are remembered in history books if they were very rich and very influential (Kings, Presidents, Generals) or if they were notorious (both Nat Turner and Newt Knight fall in this category, Knight because white supremacists and Confederate apologists loathed him - just check out some of the posts on this forum from diehard Confederate flag wavers).

Poor people, illiterate people don't usually make it into the history books. They leave no written record. And African Americans up until the latter part of the last century were overwhelmingly poor.

There is an African American who led a far more interesting and productive rebellion than Nat Turner: Robert Smalls. Why hasn't his story been filmed?

Why haven't Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Ava Duvernay, Lee Daniels, Spike Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Carl Franklin, Denzel Washington, John Singleton, Tyler Perry, Antoine Fuqua, Forest Whittaker, etc., etc.made a film about Smalls? Steve McQueen would have better served history by filming Smalls' story than Solomon Northrup's: that was a depressing tale of a very passive man who was saved - in reality and in the film - by a white savior? All these filmmakers have the influence to do it. Rather than complain on here when a movie doesn't meet your stringent criteria, why not complain to them why they aren't providing African Americans with the historic heroes they want?

P.S. Braveheart is about 50% total fiction.

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If you are going to film fiction, you can make the story anything you want. The issue is when a film is based on historic events. This one is. So is Birth of a Nation. You act like the two films are opening on the same weekend (I have to say some of the critics did too) and people have to choose which movie they want to see.

People can see this movie and Birth of Nation you know. Birth takes place in 1830, this film takes place from 1862 - 1873. They are not the same stories, they are not the same period nor the same characters. I fail to understand what your issue is with this movie - which you have obviously not seen.

my issue isn't with the movie its with the perception of both movies. One is seen negatively while the other positively. One is seen as divisive and the other basically a feel good movie and at its core BOTH films are about fighting against oppression.

There is an African American who led a far more interesting and productive rebellion than Nat Turner: Robert Smalls. Why hasn't his story been filmed?

good question..any hollywood execs on the board feel free to chime in on why Robert Smalls an enslaved African American who, during and after the American Civil War, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, and sailing it from Confederate controlled waters to the U.S. blockade. His example and persuasion helped convince President Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.

and theres more people than that...but hollywood hasn't produced stories on any of them.

Why haven't Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Ava Duvernay, Lee Daniels, Spike Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Carl Franklin, Denzel Washington, John Singleton, Tyler Perry, Antoine Fuqua, Forest Whittaker, etc., etc.made a film about Smalls? Steve McQueen would have better served history by filming Smalls' story than Solomon Northrup's: that was a depressing tale of a very passive man who was saved - in reality and in the film - by a white savior? All these filmmakers have the influence to do it. Rather than complain on here when a movie doesn't meet your stringent criteria, why not complain to them why they aren't providing African Americans with the historic heroes they want?

you are 100% correct and its sad that that hasn't happened so far..I have the same questions about that.

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You wrote: "Name a story in the last 20, 30 years set in the slave era that shows blacks taking action on their own. By themselves For Themselves not because some nice white person told them to or gave them the idea or was key to their plans. BOAN is something unprecedented IMO. Its also something that makes ALOT of people uncomfortable. I don't care if the revolt was successful or not I want to see a film that shows black people doing it for themselves win or lose. Thats what Brave heart showed."

Uh, Roots? Both of them. Didn't Kunta Kinte decide to run away because he was born in Africa a free man and refused to be a slave? There weren't any white saviors for him.

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Uh, Roots? Both of them. Didn't Kunta Kinte decide to run away because he was born in Africa a free man and refused to be a slave? There weren't any white saviors for him.


that particular statement was about armed resistance.. when white people show a movie about their struggle for freedom they usually show theyre hero picking up a WEAPON and FIGHTING back.

Youre right Kunte Kinte resisted but he ran away he didn't try to organise an armed resistance. And up until BOAN I don't think there's ever been a movie or show that focused on the slaves fighting back specifically.

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Yes, there has. Just not in English. Check out "Quilombo" about Palmares in Brazil, the largest fugitive slave community in the Americas. There are a few films/series about Ganga Zumba, Zumbi and other figures/slave revolts.

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Yes, there has. Just not in English. Check out "Quilombo" about Palmares in Brazil, the largest fugitive slave community in the Americas. There are a few films/series about Ganga Zumba, Zumbi and other figures/slave revolts.

thats great but this is about the US and hollywood producing those kinds of stories. Slavery is american history so it should be told. Abolitionists, civil war soldiers and white people fighting for their freedom is also a part of american history and gets told. What DOESN'T get told are the black brown, red and yellow freedom fighters who picked up weapons and organized and FOUGHT against their oppressors in those times.

Hollywood will greenlight and produce a story of blacks resisting white oppression as long as its peaceful and nonviolent (hence why you see multiple civil rights and MLK movies) but stories where blacks pick up guns and machetes and take care of business (win or lose) not so much and I get the feeling you guys think thats some kind of innocent coincidence that it works out like that.

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I don't think it is conspiracy. It is not an "innocent coincidence" either. What I believe is that the majority of people with money in Hollywood are white and they just do not care to tell those stories (for whatever their personal reasons are: they are racists, it is just not their experience, they don't think it will make money, it is too intellectual...etc.). There is also the possibility that the majority of Americans are unaware of these struggles since they aren't taught in school and most Americans don't read after they finish school. You can make the argument that the mainstream educational system doesn't care, and that's true, but these days I don't think it is a conspiracy but more of a lot of individual choices, based on ignorance or on knowlege and personal beliefs. So amongst people of all ethnic groups, there maybe very few people even capable of producing such a script or wanting to finance such a movie.

And finally, although it is U.S. history, from the non-mainstream perspective, Hollywood is NOT the government. It is not PBS. It is not even the History Channel (with a mission to explore history). Hollywood is made up of private producers, filmmakers and actors. In theory I agree it would be fair and welcome to have all kinds of stories being told onscreen, BUT the individual artist (and the producer who has money/connections) only are responsible for telling the story that they want to tell. If I were to write a screenplay I would not want everybody and their mother telling me what to put in my screenplay, who should be cast in it, what kinds of characters should be in it--especially if you aren't doing anything to get the project off the ground. Of course the screenwriter, director and the producer have to deal with the result--if may appeal to the potential movie goer and it may not. If it doesn't then they have to accept the consequences. Sometimes people are very concerned about how much money a film makes (Hollywood studios usually are) and sometimes they aren't.

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I often remind people that blacks are 12.8% of us. Only 12.8%. If you make movies aimed at 12.8%, you lose.



what that really means is that race and ethnicity IS a factor in our society. That when you see a movie with black people on the screen you automatically think this something thats not for me. Not because its a genre (love story, mystery, thriller etc) you may not like but solely because the cast does not look like you.

Lets go with that..lets say that being disinterested in seeing people who DON'T look like you is a natural reaction...its a story with asians but I'm not asian so I don't care..okay I understand that..then why is a movie with an all white cast playing in theaters in japan, taiwan, hong kong and south korea??

How come in the US blacks, latinos and asians line up to see all kinds of movies with all white casts...yet whites by and large don't do the same for all nonwhite cast films in America??

why is it a story like this:

Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an enslaved African American who, during and after the American Civil War, became a ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician. He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, and sailing it from Confederate controlled waters to the U.S. blockade. His example and persuasion helped convince President Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.

is something you would see and say..I'll pass thats a story aimed at BLACKS so has nothing to do with me..

BUT this story:

Newton Knight (November 1837 – February 16, 1922) was an American farmer, soldier and southern Unionist, best known as the leader of the Knight Company, a band of Confederate army deserters that turned against the Confederacy during the Civil War. Local legends state that Knight and his men attempted to form the "Free State of Jones" in the area around Jones County, Mississippi, at the height of the war, though the exact nature of the Knight Company's opposition to the Confederate government is disputed. After the war, Knight aided Mississippi's Reconstruction government.

is something thats a must see not only for you but blacks and others WILL see it as well...

why is that??

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Ignore curmed52,people--he/she's one of these racist rolls that show up on these boards only to say racist s*** about black people. And 12.8% is about 40 million people---obviously the ignorant troll didn't know that, but,hey, that's how stupid and lazy trolls are when it comes to finding actual information.

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@madconcept2010


Here's an old film starring Dorothy Dandridge that is supposed to be about a slave revolt called TAMANGO (958), but, once again, that was made outside of Hollywood at the time, due to the subject matter. Here's an article about it:


http://www.indiewire.com/2015/11/a-look-at-tamango-the-dorothy-dandridge-slave-revolt-movie-youll-probably-never-see-137741/

Here's the 1963 Brazilian historical revolt film GANGA ZUMBA---it has no subs, unfortunately,and isn't available on any format in the U.S. Here's an article with tells you the plot---the music in it is cool as hell,though:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOnK0r6ah4k


Here's the 1984 Brazilian slave revolt drama QUILOMBO (done by the same direcotr as GANGA ZUMBA--Carlos Diegues which is a broader retelling of the subject of GANGA ZUMBA, and yeah, its got subs, and is on DVD (yay!): Definitely worth watching, and with an even better musical soundtrack by Brazilian national musical treasure Gilberto Gil:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IvyRAC_ypQ















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Almost forgot this one---THE LAST SUPPER (1977)---a rare look at Cuban slavery also involving a slave revolt:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_CPbHIgnF4

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@madconcept2010


Actually, BOAN is an independent flick made outside of Hollywood---it took the writer-director seven years to get it made. It got picked up for distribution by a Hollywood studio---but Hollywood actually hasn't made a film about slavery since AMISTAD in 1998. All of the handful of films that have come out in the past few years about slavery (THE RETRIEVAL,BELLE,12 YEARS A SLAVE) have all been indie productions.

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Guess what, I'm black and have ZERO interest in seeing Birth of A Nation.
FSOJ is about fight for freedom for ALL oppressed by the greed of the Confederacy and from what I've heard about Birth is that it is nothing but revolting and killing whites.

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Guess what, I'm black and have ZERO interest in seeing Birth of A Nation.
FSOJ is about fight for freedom for ALL oppressed by the greed of the Confederacy and from what I've heard about Birth is that it is nothing but revolting and killing whites.


you say that like its a bad thing...I'm pretty sure if you lived in the 1830s youd feel the same way..or maybe not there were a lot of house negroes who went along to get along..



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@CelluloidAdmirer


Um,seriously? DO your research on the film,please, and stop listening to white people dogging the film who probably haven't even seen it themselves. Go see it and make up your own mind, without listening to others, which is what I so. BOAN is important because for once, you have a movie about a slave rebellion being told BY a black director FROM a black perspective without a white main character taking center stage and running s*** (which would be the case in a Hollywood film) and being the "white savior" as usual. That's what's different about it. Check it out for yourself, regardess of what anyone says about it.







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stop listening to white people dogging the film who probably haven't even seen it themselves. Go see it and make up your own mind, without listening to others, which is what I so.


I have made up my own mind. Why do you think I'm some kind of puppet just for having an opinion that's different from the others who are defending this. Keep in mind that there are other black people who are dogging this movie too.

BOAN is important because for once, you have a movie about a slave rebellion being told BY a black director FROM a black perspective without a white main character taking center stage and running s*** (which would be the case in a Hollywood film) and being the "white savior" as usual. That's what's different about it.


It's not. It's just yet another slave movie and an inaccurate one at that. I have indeed researched this and last time I checked, the filmmaker conveniently omitted that he killed many innocent men, women and children and yet the apologists are okay with this.
Nat Turner was just nothing but a vengeful, bloodthirsty nut job and not the so called hero some are portraying him to be. That man is no hero to me. It's no better than that Black Lives Matter movement.

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@CelluloidAdmirer

Nat Turner was just nothing but a vengeful, bloodthirsty nut job and not the so called hero some are portraying him to be.


Filmmakers changes MANY things about true stories in movies for many different reasons---lack of budget, not enough time to add any scenes. That's been done since films were invented---nothing new there. I haven't seen either film yet, but from some thing I read about FSOJ, Newton Knight wasn't considered a hero by some people either. He also fought in a war where he had to kill people,but that's okay with you apparently, since he was a white guy. Nat Turner, as a slave himself, more than likely saw many slaves murdered by his slavemasters,who usually got away with it because slaves weren't considered anything other than property. I just find Turner's story more compelling because he was a slave determined to fight his way out of slavery or die trying, against white people who would have killed him before freeing him. Yes, it was horrible that he killed women and children---that's all kinds of fcked up. I'm not excusing that. You act as if that's all he wanted to do,though. He also wanted to get black folks the hell out of slavery, but you completely ignored that part of it. And dragging Black Lives Matter into this--for what? That's not even part of the conversation, so why bring it in here? If his victims were black, you wouldn't have given a damn whether he offed them or not.

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Haven't seen the film as Nate Parker & Jean Celestin joined Polanski, Allen, Gibson, Wahlberg on my sh@tlist but I have read some reviews and some analysis by black historians of the film.

Parker invented too much when the historical record about Nat Turner is fairly well known (that in itself is infuriating as the lives of so many enslaved people are totally lost to history). The addition of a fictional gang rape scene (given Parker & Celestin's past) was an obscenity. And put the nail in the lid of that movie's coffin.

For me, one of the most fascinating elements of Free State of Jones is that it also told the story of an extraordinarily resourceful enslaved black woman Rachel Knight who as the chief supplier and spy of the Knight Company did more to end slavery than Nat Turner did (and don't forget Turner's rebellion was short lived. The true victims were all the enslaved people who didn't even take part in the rebellion but were murdered).

In Free State of Jones the point is well made that Rachel and Moses could not read. If a slave was found in possession of a Blue Speller (which Newt gives Rachel in the film), they could be sommarily executed. Prior to Turner's rebellion it was not illegal for slaves to learn to read. After his rebellion, the Southern states enacted laws to make teaching a slave to read a hanging offense, to make it illegal for slaves to congregate in churches without the presence of a white overseer, etc.

A good documentary about Nat Turner would be an important addition (maybe after 13th DuVernay might so one?). But I'd rather hear about Robert Smalls or Sojourner Truth or Harriet Tubman. The best biopic would be of Brit Johnson. John Ford made The Searchers about his story, whitewashing Johnson into John Wayne. Somebody needs to rectify that.

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@CelluloidAdmirer


So you didn't have enough sense to go see the film yourself and see whether that was true or not? You basically just proved Madconcept's point----that white people have a problem with BOAN because it's about black people taking up arms and starting an armed rebellion against their slavemasters---without any white people leading them around by the nose. Saying it's "nothing but revolting and killing whites" is pretty stupid since you haven't even seen it. And I question whether you're even black, given your past comments.

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Free State of Jones completely bombed at the box office. I think the people have spoken loud and clear.

Sonny: Is there a country you'd like to go to?
Sal: Wyoming.

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old wounds ?

I am from Europe so I guess I don't have some sort of weird offensive attitude towards history.

There have been plenty of sad things in our (human) history and there will be plenty more before we seize to exist. I think its only healthy to be reminded of the past albeit "doctored" a bit in terms of this movie.

Europeans slaughtered Indians/Maya/Aztec/Inka etc etc

Europe had slaves for a long time and not only black people it was usually just people they had conquered.

Even today slavery is fairly common in some parts of the world. You heard of Qatar ? The place were they are a lot of sports these years ? Its estimated that 2000 slaves will die building the stadiums for the world cup (soccer)

so to end with what I started with.... old wounds ? Its still a problem and whatever the skin of the protagonist/slave/slaveowner is irrelevant. Its the message or just the story of what came before that matters. At least from my perspective.

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[deleted]

Have you seen FSOJ? I haven't seen BOAN as Nate Parker & Jean Celestin on my sh!t list along with Polanski, Allen, Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg. Oddly, many of the reviews which trashed FSOJ simultaneously put in plugs for the "greatest film since Citizen Kane" (BOAN) which turned to be mediocre once said reviewers Googled Parker and Celestin. Movie reviewers apparently are so ignorant of American history they viewed them as competitors for dominance of 19th century American history filmmaking.

FSOJ is an excellent movie, probably should have been a mini-series though - too many events to squash into 2 hours, but still very worthwhile with great acting, cinematography and a fascinating story.

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