- 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 impr
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.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Documentaries
Electronic press kit
Featurette
Interviews
From the moment the young Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) is stolen from his life and ancestral home in 18th-century Africa and brought under inhumane conditions to be auctioned as a slave in America, a line is begun that leads from this most shameful chapter in U.S. history to the 20th-century author Alex Haley, a Kinte descendant. The late Haley’s acclaimed book Roots was adapted into this six-volume television miniseries, which was a widely watched phenomenon in 1977. The programs cover several generations in the antebellum South and end with the story of “Chicken” George, a freed slave played by Ben Vereen whose family feels the agony of entrenched racism and learns to fight it. Between the lives of Kunta and George, we meet a number of memorable characters, black and white, and learn much about the emotional and physical torments of slavery, from beatings and rapes to the forced separation of spouses and families. Nothing like this had ever confronted so many mainstream Americans when the series was originally broadcast, and the extent to which the country was nudged a degree or two toward enlightenment was instantly obvious. Roots still has that ability to open one’s eyes, and engage an audience in a sweeping, memorable drama at the same time. –Tom Keogh
May 7, 2008
#1
It’d be interesting if slavery ever happened…but it’s all made up to make people feel bad. Do we have any real evidence of it happening? No. Any pictures? No.
It’s about time people stop acting like this stuff happened
May 7, 2008
#2
More fiction and plagiarism designed to demonise the South, divide the races, fill the coffers of Jessee Jackson and politicians who claim to have the answers, encourage liberal whites to wallow in guilt and shame, insult blacks with paternalism at its very worst: Treat them like children; they can’t handle the truth. To quote STANLEY CROUCH, a black columnist for the New York Daily News; “The book remains an opportunistic insult to black people, and no amount of excuses will change that harsh fact.”
May 7, 2008
#3
The only reason this influential miniseries doesn’t get five stars is because of its gross distortion of the facts.I don’t deny the mistreatment of the slaves at the hands of cruel white slave traders but the fact is that these slave traders did’t need to go on these raids inland but rather they were given up to them in exchange for goods by black tribesmen who had already made them slaves. I also don’t deny the injustices done to people of color in this country since, however may I suggest a different way of looking at the situation.I would consider myself one of the fortunate ones to have been brought to a land like America instead of being left in a land like Africa where poverty, disease and war are so prevalent.Roots basically is a well done series with good production values and good acting done by likeable characters but don’t watch it thinking it’s a history lesson because it is biased.
May 7, 2008
#4
Having seen this as a youngster, I can admit the acting is superb. Hence the 1 star review. That’s where it ends though. “ROOTS” is, for the most part, a fictional tale Mr. Hailey plagiarized from WHITE AUTHOR Harold Courander and his book “The African”. Yet this mini-series is held as indisputable fact. The slave trade was already going when whites went to Africa. Only a fool could think African warriors would let Europeans run roughshod over their country, taking slaves at will. The slaves were bought and sold by their own, this has been proven. It also has, to a certain degree, painted whites as the epitome of all that is evil. It’s also interesting that Jews produced it(but that’s for another story)If this tale of fiction could ever be challenged in schools all over the country, it’d be a step toward improving race relations, albeit with many angry blacks. It’d also challenge the doctrine of Jackson and Sharpton who make their living off of white guilt and extortion. Not to mention the innocent whites who were bullied and assaulted by blacks after this program premiered. Until then, expect the white resistance movement in America to continue growing. Good day…….
May 7, 2008
#5
Before anyone buys this video, they should be aware that most of this story, which was supposedly based on Mr. Haley’s investigation into his ancestry, was proven to be a hoax, while other parts were simply stolen from other sources. Let the buyer beware!