Let me start out by saying I'm a black man. I might not have any business trying to figure out what Ms. Dash is trying to say. I do know what does and doesn't work for me. I need subtitles. I don't need obfuscation which I felt was the basic strategy employed here. There may be a point in confusing the audience to a certain point but eventually we'll need some things cleared up.
This is what I got from the film:
The slave trade continued awhile longer on these islands. I wasn't sure if slavery continued longer here than anywhere else(longer than in Galveston, TX). Forced incestuous mating and breeding took place here as well. The internal struggle to enter a new phase of life in a new place was affecting the entire family. The basic "action" in the film is the attempt to have a final family get-together without too much conflict and altercation. There are no white people in the film. There are a few Muslims and one Native American that is a key figure in the story. As pure visual experience the film had some wonderful, fleeting moments. Tommy Redmond Hicks is in it. Why did the light skinned girl run away near the end? The actress doing the child voice over was awful.
It doesn't work.
This is what I got from the film:
The slave trade continued awhile longer on these islands. I wasn't sure if slavery continued longer here than anywhere else(longer than in Galveston, TX). Forced incestuous mating and breeding took place here as well. The internal struggle to enter a new phase of life in a new place was affecting the entire family. The basic "action" in the film is the attempt to have a final family get-together without too much conflict and altercation. There are no white people in the film. There are a few Muslims and one Native American that is a key figure in the story. As pure visual experience the film had some wonderful, fleeting moments. Tommy Redmond Hicks is in it. Why did the light skinned girl run away near the end? The actress doing the child voice over was awful.
It doesn't work.