Rosewood
Sad but pretty close to the truth. I really don't know what else to say. It's our Country's Sad History. People still use the N word freely. This explains why so many of us take offense, even when our own use it. Boy, even at 50 and respected by his own, a grown man is referred to as Boy. Some folks just don't understand why some of us are still angry. Anger is an action word. Without feeling it, things just don't get done. It's as strong as Determination. I love my black brothers, excuse me, Black Men. Their fight is harder than any other race. If they climb too high, either his own or some other race will try to pull him down. In Rosewood, all I saw were Black Men. Even the youngest boy had to become a man, and he held up his position. Where are the young Arnet's today? They are pretty busy calling each other N...and telling the those who were almost killed or died fighting for the right to be called MAN or WOMAN. The word used to be a fighting word in my younger days...but then, so was the B word. Young People, Learn the history of words before you use them so freely. Watch this movie and others like it, and understand the Term is not endearing or a compliment. If you don't know your history, you are going to repeat it. Ignorance is not Bliss

Heavy, but great movie.
This movie has a great story to tell, one that all should see, so that it will never happen again.

Item and described, with prompt shipping.

only got to see half
I purchased this dvd abouth a month ago. I went to finally watch it this weekend. I only got to watch half of it, due to the fact of the movie stops 1hr and 10 minutes into it. I tried 3 different dvd players and the movie stopped 1hr and 10 minutes later. Needless to say i was very disappointed. From what I did see it is a very good movie. I can only give it 3 stars cause i didn't get to see the rest.

Another film that is usually hard to watch
Director John Singleton, of "Boyz N the Hood" fame, does a top-notch job throughout this two and a half hour film of conveying the building and inevitable terror of what is to come, and of then sustaining that terror. Visually, he's a master storyteller. The trigger was a white woman, beaten black and blue by her lover. To explain the bruises to her husband, she claims that a black intruder worked her over. Never mind that her housekeepers saw perfectly well who did it. And that he wasn't black. Forget due process. In short order, strange fruit was hanging high and blood lust for more was in the air. When one of the housekeepers finally stepped forward to try to quell the tide of violence by telling what she saw, well, suffice to say that no good deed goes unpunished. Ultimately, Rosewood was reduced to ashes.

I consider this film one of those that you might not necessarily want to see, but you need to. Because it's that necessary harsh kind of art, another example of which that readily leaps to mind is Alice Walker's book, Possessing the Secret of Joy. Based on a true story, this is Singleton's intrepid of the destruction of Rosewood, an all-black town in Florida. The incident occurred in 1923 and the film gets kudos all the way around. First of all, the script by Poirier is dead-on, giving you characters that have significant depth to them. Singleton directs the material well, helping to make you care about these people before the insanity begins. And the good news is that the cast is superb and definitely up to the challenge. Rhames, always an SDI favorite, shows that he can carry a leading role as the enigmatic Mann, a veteran who shows up just in time to try to facilitate some of Rosewood's citizens surviving the onslaught. Voight is in fine form as well as a store owner in Rosewood who is uncertain where his loyalties lie when the bullets start flying. Cheadle gets points as well as the proud Sylvester who knows when it's time to stop talking. The strength of this film is that it's brutally honest about the intrepid that it's providing.

The inhumanity is not glamorized or backed away from, it's put in front of you with the understanding that you're there to witness it and learn. It also provides an important lesson in racism, and how the belief system functions, by being passed down from generation to generation. Excellent filmmaking on the part of Singleton and unfortunately lost once Oscar-time rolled around.

This Is Education At Its Best
So much is unknown about the valid attempts African-Americans made to build their own society's, during the 18th century, forward. This story tells of how they were thwarted and destroyed for 'just trying to live in America as free, productive, people.' My classes sat with eyes glued to the screen. It was a horrific awakening for many of my students. They were fed the lies and propaganda throughout their educations and lives, that African-Americans were a useless species. Well, they now know the truth. African-Americans were very diligent in building businesses, places of worship, homes, etc., which frightened the Cacausion people of that era, so they were destroyed - and much hope with them.