I found this to be a fascinating documentary, that held my attention throughout.
That said, it left me with some unanswered questions, in part because of its format, which focused on interviews with people who lived in Africatown, near where the Clotilda, evidently the last slave ship to arrive in the United States, landed.
I can completely understand why the director and producer would want to give these people a chance to express their views and feelings. They had been ignored for so long.
And I know that documentaries can only be so long before viewers start to turn out and off.
But I would have liked more background about a variety of issues. Do we know anything about the Clotilda's route to the States? Do we know where in Africa it left from? Have any of the descendants taken DNA tests that would help with this?
What was life like for the descendants of the original slaves between the time of Emancipation and today?
And on and on.
None of that is a criticism of the movie, which I enjoyed very much. But because the story it told is so interesting, it left me wanting to know so much more.
That said, it left me with some unanswered questions, in part because of its format, which focused on interviews with people who lived in Africatown, near where the Clotilda, evidently the last slave ship to arrive in the United States, landed.
I can completely understand why the director and producer would want to give these people a chance to express their views and feelings. They had been ignored for so long.
And I know that documentaries can only be so long before viewers start to turn out and off.
But I would have liked more background about a variety of issues. Do we know anything about the Clotilda's route to the States? Do we know where in Africa it left from? Have any of the descendants taken DNA tests that would help with this?
What was life like for the descendants of the original slaves between the time of Emancipation and today?
And on and on.
None of that is a criticism of the movie, which I enjoyed very much. But because the story it told is so interesting, it left me wanting to know so much more.