Roots (Four-Disc 30th Anniversary Edition) | Maya Angelou, Ji-Tu Cumbuka

Roots (Four-Disc 30th Anniversary Edition) | Maya Angelou, Ji-Tu Cumbuka | Best TV Miniseries Of All Time

DVDs:

Roots (Four-Disc 3...

	Roots (Four-Disc 30th Anniversary Edition) Maya Angelou, Ji-Tu Cumbuka Warner Home Video, 2007 average customer review:based on 161 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Based on Alex Haley's best-selling novel about his African ancestors Roots followed several generations in the lives of a slave family. The saga began with Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) a West African youth captured by slave raiders and shipped to America in the 1700s. The family's saga is depicted up until the Civil War where Kunte Kinte's grandson gained emancipation. Roots made its greatest impression on the ratings and widespread popularity it garnered. On average 130 million - almost half the country at the time - saw all or part of the series.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 085391144854 Manufacturer No: 114485

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A Really Great Story!

This miniseries is well worth watching again or for the first time if you never have. It is very moving and tells the story of slavery from the point of view of the slaves. Beginning with Alex Haley's book, which is wonderful in itself, this miniseries is still the most popular show to have ever aired on TV. It might take some getting used to because of the difference in TV production values but you quickly forget about it after awhile and learn to appreciate the beauty and sincerity of the production. It isn't about the amount of money spent but the effort and a job well done. The actors are superlative. The writing is wonderful. It made me cry at the end because it was so moving.
The DVD isn't the highest quality and there is a lot of times the picture stopped and I had to scan it rapidly for a couple of seconds to get it going again. The commentary is well done and highly recommended. I learned a lot and it made me feel closer to the production.

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Best TV Miniseries Of All Time

"Roots" traces the family history of writer Alex Haley back to the late 1700's when his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, was brought here as a slave. The show goes on to tell the stories of Kuntas's daughter, Kizzy, grandson, Chicken George, and great-grandson, Tom Harvey, as they courageously struggled to survive the brutalties of slavery in the American South.

The acting is outstanding and the characters are truly inspirational. It can sometimes veer in melodrama, as way typical of other TV miniseries at this time. But I was impressed by just how high quality this series was in most aspects. For example, the historical settings were suprisingly accurate. Also I thought it was extremely fair minded and realistic in it's portrayal of the various characters, both black and white. But never in a way that comprised the show's artistic vision of depicting American history from the perspective of a black family. Highly recommended viewing for all.

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Highly recommend but I have a couple of suggestions

I was a month short of 9 years of age when Roots was first broadcast on TV. Til only recently I had never ever seen it. I heard a lot about it but never actually sat down to watch it. I was recently at our town library and decided to take volume 1 home. I was somewhat excited about it as I sat down to watch.

In the first volume I found the idealization of Kunta Kinte's tribe and, except for the Ed Asner character, most white characters were 1 dimensional, to be a little too difficult to swallow.
However I continue to watch.

In the subsequent volumes as Kunta grew up, married and raised Kizzy, the writing of the characters began to show some depth. Frankly in those episodes I was pleased that not all white people were evil masochists. I liked Robert Reed's character. He was fair, deep and introspective. Even when he sold Kizzy away it was not done for no reason.

The final volume was where I started to feel like I was watching a cartoon again. I thought the Lloyd Bridges character had little depth and was completely onedimensional . His character's relationship with Tom was the most one dimensional relationship in the whole series in my opinion. I found other slave owners and white characters like Mr.Ames, Tom Moore and even John and William Reynolds having multi-dimensional , more realistic relationships with their slaves. This helped draw me in to the miniseries - of course until the end when all the white people were eitherwimps (George Johnson), overt racists (Evan Brent(Bridges)) or corrupt Senators (Burl Ives' character).

I was deeply moved by the plight of the slaves, especially Kizzy. When she visited her father's grave and all that was written on it was "TOBY", I was profoundly affected. I was affected primarily because I felt like I knew Kunta from his youth and how he was a valued human being as a young person only to end up in a grave with a cheap stone scrawled with "TOBY". It was a very powerful moment when Kizzy wrote "Kunta Kinte" on the stone.

There are two things apart from the specifics with certain characters that I would have done differently in making this mini-series. First I would have had the people in Africa speak a native African tongue with subtitles (a la The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto). This would have made it more believable especially when Kunta comes to the US and suddenly can't speak or understand English. Yes as I watched it I could get beyond that and make pretend he wasn't speaking English when he was in Africa, but it would have been better if they spoke their native language in Africa.

The second thing is as a Christian, I would like to have seen someone introduce Christianity to Kunta and at some point give his life to Christ or at least see one of his progeny do it.

I highly recommend this mini-series to anyone. I am not a black person but I can empathize with people who sincerely want to know the truth about their lineage.

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Wish my kids had longer attention spans...

I remember gathering with my college roommates every Sunday to see the next program of this weekly series. I wanted to share it with my kids because it had such a profound impact on my generation. It sure looks like it was filmed in the 70's! Unfortunately, except for recognizing OJ Simpson, and Lamar from Star Trek, they weren't that interested. It's good for them though.

Sound is deciving

Roots, what can one say about the grestest even in television history? But, if you are like me and have a surround sound systen DON'T purchase the 30th Anneversay edition. I only get audio out of the center speaker and it sounds like I am using a tin can for a speaker. Afriad that it may be my system I put in another DVD (Blade) and the sound was fantastic as usual. If anyone else has experienced this issue please let me know.

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