You Pay Only: $6.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: NEILL,SAM
EAN: 0096009258290
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Label: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: February 08, 2005
Running Time: 171 minutes
Sales Rank: 4186
Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: February 13, 2000
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 3-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - There is nothing romantic about slavery
This movie romanticizes a slave master's sexual union and there is no romance in rape. Young female slaves had no right of refusal if a master decided to bed them.
Thomas Jefferson's Virginia was the first colony to have laws on slavery that were adopted by the other colonies. These included making slavery lifelong and hereditary, thus creating a permanent slave caste without legal rights until Constitutional Amendments.
Election night 2008 was historic and memorable because it was Jefferson's State of Virginia that put Barack Obama over the top to win decisively as President of the United States. History has come full circle. Now to get to work united to solve this economic crisis. God is great and his lessons sometimes take long to learn.
Rating:  - Loved It
This was a very well made movie. I admit that I'm a sap for old movies and old things and old times. I am also a big fanatic about interracial relationships and perhaps that's why I love this movie so much. I think it should have won some kind of award. All of my family watched it with me and they enjoyed it. I would recommend this movie to anyone.It was far better than what I expected.
Rating:  - Very poorly executed
I have to give the filmmakers credit for bringing to light a story that, for so long, historians rejected. We now know that Thomas Jefferson did indeed have a 30-year relationship with Sally Hemings, his slave (and wife's half-sister). The dialogue is bad, costuming not particularly accurate, and the actors pretty bad. All that can be overlooked. What is problematic to me is that the story, as presented here, is largely fictional.
First, the actress playing Hemings was entirely too, well, black, to be accurate. Sally Hemings was only 1/4 black and described as being "mighty near white" by Edmund Bacon, Jefferson's overseer. Change her clothes from servant/slave gear and one would likely have assumed she was white. We have no knowledge that Sally Hemings could write, let alone read and the movie has her reading and writing in English and French. Given that Jefferson encouraged education and learning music, we have no reason to assume she could do either. And while we know that she had the opportunity to stay behind in France and be free, there is no indication of the drama between herself, her brother, and Jefferson, nor did they flee paris due to an angry mob attacking his home. There is a disturbing scene in which Jefferson all but rapes Hemings in Paris, something we have zero documentation of (and frankly, would be WAY out of line for Jefferson's character.) Also, as the writers are trying to convince the audience that this is a love/companionate relationship, this is a godawful ... Read More
Rating: - Willfull distortion of history, and not particularly entertaining to boot
The smug postscript at the end of this mess of a movie makes brief mention of the 1998 DNA testing as a way of vindicating everything which has gone before. While the DNA tests (combined with a preponderance of historical evidence) makes it almost certain that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston Hemings, the tests are as important for what they disprove.
Among other things, one claim conclusively disproven was Jefferson's paternity of Thomas Woodson, which renders the entire Parisian chapter of this movie a complete fiction. It goes downhill from that point, with the narrative implying an extended correspondence between Jefferson & Hemings (there is no evidence that Sally Hemings was even literate), that Hemings was involved in some naiscent Underground Railroad (again, who knows?) and that Sally Hemings pops up unannounced at the White House one night (was it really that easy for a slave to travel from Charlottesville to Washington DC undetected?) to kiss & make up with "Thomas."
In between all of these historical improbabilities, we are subjected to pontificating of the first order. Nothing kills romance faster than speechifying. It ends up being a lose-lose situation: bad history combined with some deadly-dull romance. Ugh! Once it became clear where this was going (in the first 30 minutes, really), I should have quit while I was ahead.
Rating: - Sally Hemings: An American Classic (made for TV)
Sally Hemings: An American Scandal draws you in immediately, and despite its length, holds your attention the entire time. The story transcends time, as it still holds a very relevant message today. The actors are all superb at presenting the varied sides of the dynamic characters. The audience grows to feel great empathy for Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings as they attempt to follow, and sometimes fight, their moral compasses. The aesthetic is also spectacular; meticulous attention was paid to detail in all of the sets and costume design.
For a made-for-TV-movie, it really is extraordinarily touching, as it makes the audience feel both inspired and ashamed of this fascinating part of American history.
Browse for similar items by category:
|
