I vividly remember reading about this as a youngster of 11 in Jet which, strangely enough, was the only magazine I read from back to front. I also remember the dread sometimes of reading Jet Magazine for you could count on pictures of dead African-Americans who were victims of racism. But this was the way of the world then. I am a grown man and I rarely cry at movies but it is quite impossible to hold back the tears looking at this. It is just as vivid to the parents, relatives, and friends of the four little girls involved in this horrific crime today as if it happened yesterday. Say what you will about Spike...HE WILL MAKE YOU CONFRONT IT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! Sometimes this is the only way to get the point across that we have simply got to do better. The movie is quite intense because the memories of the people most intimately involved have not faded in 38 years. One mother even admitted that she doesn't even harbor any hate anymore and has resigned herself to the fact that that would simply not do any good at this point; at the same time this is something that she STILL has to work on daily through the grace of her religious convictions.
A particularly uncomfortable scene featured George Wallace, (yeah, THAT one), racist extraordinaire, who in his later years claimed to have modified his racial views. His speech, slurred and barely understandable, Mr. Wallace was insisting that during the whole time he rallied against ANYTHING black, he and this black man who was standing behind him during this, were, in fact, the best of friends and HAD been all along!!! It is also patently obvious that for the black man in question, this was NOT the case....in the LEAST!. Please forgive my lack of objectivity here, but this scene really, really got on my nerves
A beautiful documentary and a must see but be prepared to at least have to take a breather because it is intense but WELL worth the discomfort. Hats off, Spike! You've done it again!!!!!
A particularly uncomfortable scene featured George Wallace, (yeah, THAT one), racist extraordinaire, who in his later years claimed to have modified his racial views. His speech, slurred and barely understandable, Mr. Wallace was insisting that during the whole time he rallied against ANYTHING black, he and this black man who was standing behind him during this, were, in fact, the best of friends and HAD been all along!!! It is also patently obvious that for the black man in question, this was NOT the case....in the LEAST!. Please forgive my lack of objectivity here, but this scene really, really got on my nerves
A beautiful documentary and a must see but be prepared to at least have to take a breather because it is intense but WELL worth the discomfort. Hats off, Spike! You've done it again!!!!!