Either in response to Spike Lee’s jabs at his movie “Django Unchained” or in hopes of drumming up more promotion, director Quentin Tarantino is being very vocal about his thoughts on classic slave film “Roots”. Here’s what the acclaimed director reportedly had to say recently:
“When you look at Roots, nothing about it rings true in the storytelling, and none of the performances ring true for me either. I didn’t see it when it first came on, but when I did I couldn’t get over how oversimplified they made everything about that time. It didn’t move me because it claimed to be something it wasn’t.”
Thoughts?
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree
although Django Unchained is a great movie, Roots has to be accounted for the time it was released which is 1977 or thereabouts… Black folks, we hadn’t even had equal rights for a full 15 years when that movie came out… so it was amazing that was able to be put on TV when it was, so Tarantino is oversimplifying the time period in which the material was put out.
The things he is able to do and show in his movie would’ve never been allowed on the grand scale open theatre as it is now… unless it was an exploitation of slavery that made blacks look like animals and showed no blacks in a good light such as the Italian film Goodbye Uncle Tom which wasn’t released on a wide scale in America either.
I would challenge Tarantino to read the book Roots and likely stay away from this debate, great movie but he is about to wade into unfriendly waters and unwinnable territory, he won the battle with Spike based on the quality of the film, extra comments are going to cause him trouble… this is one of those times to sit back, shut up and let the art speak for itself… but Vanity knows no limits
Thank you VAVA.
Excellent observation …i could not have said it better myself.
Couldn’t have said it better!
I think one must remember that Roots was not a movie but a television mini-series that ran for a week and didn’t approach the budget of Django. Some of the acting in Roots was remarkable, for any time. Some was just ok. But the idea that it was “inauthentic” is off the mark. While it may not have been exactly THE story of the Haley clan, almost everything depicted in Roots did happen during slavery and was recorded. Django on the other hand had a number of authenticity problems, too many to list here. Still, it was not a bad movie. I’m with you, he should have left it at that. When it comes to an authentic depiction of slavery, Django is not in the category with Roots.
Very well said VAVA
Well stated vava……let it alone as the ole folks would say.
Roots was groundbreaking content in the late 70′s because most people had NEVER seen slavery depicted on film. Also, as a semi-autobiographical piece, it was amazing just to see OUR story told. however, let’s not confuse that with great cinema. there are tons of movies from that era that hold up and are as great today as they were then, and Roots unfortunately, is not one of them.
So Tarrantino is right and wrong. I tried watching Roots a year or so ago and i found so much of the acting contrived. But once again, we need to move past all of our movies needing to be biographical, if you want history, read a damn book. And let fictional films simply be fictional films. Fiction and non-fiction are both equally important.
VIVA VAVA lol very well put
Django was aiight but I don’t trust QT.
VAVA and me dropped jewels. Sankofa is the most authentic and touching movie that I’ve seen that dealt with slavery.
I was introduced to this post via twitter and it was said that Tarantino calls Roots “not authentic”. Well either the person who tweeted or the whomever quoted him left that out.
VAVA your point was well taken but its sad that its true. People will aim at Tarantino for speaking on it but I’ve long said that Roots should be a revisited project. We had the honor of watching the episdodes when I was in middle school back in 1995 and the film looked outdated. They had a few quality actors but from a cinematic standpoint didn’t do it for me. Django was afforded the luxury of being 20 plus years younger thus able to do more from a graphic standpoint. But as me (a few posts up, not actually me) there are movies that came out in black and white that were done better.
So they made due with what they had because “black” movies and shows had a lot of limitations so Tarantino should’ve offered a revamping and not an opinion
I don’t know about how authentic ROOTS was but I thought it was ground breaking for the time. I think most Americans were glued to their sets like they are for Downton Abby now. I thought ROOTS was good for Americans to see. I certainly learned a lot, like the separating of families, I didn’t know about that happening. Certainly ROOTS couldn’t be as explicit as Django which opened my eyes even more. I suspect we’ll never know exactly what went on if we rely on TV and Movies to tell us. As a white American, I loved Roots and thought Django was way too bloody, but I heard the message loud and clear. Humans are cruel towards each other. I don’t think anything is going to stop that.
one more thing. I think we missed commenting on another great movie THE COLOR PURPLE. I think it showed what blacks did to each other as well as what whites did to them. Again, people are cruel to people just because they’re a little different. I wish we’d learn, but it doesn’t seem we do.
great movie..but i i think the issue has more to do with Hollywood vs history..spike and dick wanted the movie to be more historically significant while others just wanted a great story, and since you cannot get both in the same room your end result is the public disagreements which become the topic of discussion….in a sense, if your going to go Hollywood, then you can make the story what you want it to be..now if your going to do History, there’s a chance it might not sell, but at least people will know the truth. our challenge is not to be misguided by adopting the hollywood version of something as the historical version of it.
Are you kidding? Roots was based on life not a written story.I love the cast in your movie but you never have written a true story! You had the nerves to put that extraordinary cast of Black actors and actress down! You need to apologize to the whole cast! You may cast Black people,but you are not Black! I am disappointed with your comment!