Rosewood

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Unfortunate History
Review: "Rosewood", starring Jon Voight and Ving Rhames, is a gripping true story about an all African-American town that was burned by an all white lynch mob in 1923, which killed many. Its powerful message sends an eyeopening attack in audiences' hearts. The filmmakers deserve tremendous respect for deeply exploring these chain of events to such levels. This was highly necessary for people to understand the impact of violence and racism. The intensity is so groundbreaking that it forces audiences inside the movie. Their research is highly obvious, making it very educational. The movie plot is brilliant, keeping the heart and soul alive in every scene:

A small town, Rosewood, is usually a peaceful, loving town. In New Years Eve 1922, everything functioned as usual. Around that time, a woman from a nearby town, Sumner, falsely accuses a black person of raping and assaulting her (it was actually a white man, but there was no rape). Once word is out, all hell breaks loose.

The recreation of the town is perfect. Every detail is flawless, including the styles of the early 1920's. Every building structure and creation is flawless. The costume designs are as flawless, looking like actual 1920's clothing.

The acting was intensely great. Everyone offers their own heart and soul sense into this movie, making it more powerful. Jon Voight and Ving Rhames capitalize the acting talents. This is Rhames's best role in years. His tough warrior image never fades for a second, which is very convincing. His presentd talents were wrongfully overlooked in the 1997 Acadamy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Jon Voight's role as a man who comes to terms of what a true ally is. His heartdrenching role forces audiences to feel his character's learning progress and emotions.

"Rosewood" is a great movie for those looking for an factual intense drama. This will surely educate audiences about reality. This movie will become a classic in the near following years as it deserves.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Unfortunate History
Review: "Rosewood", starring Jon Voight and Ving Rhames, is a gripping true story about an all African-American town that was burned by an all white lynch mob in 1923, which killed many. Its powerful message sends an eyeopening attack in audiences' hearts. The filmmakers deserve tremendous respect for deeply exploring these chain of events to such levels. This was highly necessary for people to understand the impact of violence and racism. The intensity is so groundbreaking that it forces audiences inside the movie. Their research is highly obvious, making it very educational. The movie plot is brilliant, keeping the heart and soul alive in every scene:

A small town, Rosewood, is usually a peaceful, loving town. In New Years Eve 1922, everything functioned as usual. Around that time, a woman from a nearby town, Sumner, falsely accuses a black person of raping and assaulting her (it was actually a white man, but there was no rape). Once word is out, all hell breaks loose.

The recreation of the town is perfect. Every detail is flawless, including the styles of the early 1920's. Every building structure and creation is flawless. The costume designs are as flawless, looking like actual 1920's clothing.

The acting was intensely great. Everyone offers their own heart and soul sense into this movie, making it more powerful. Jon Voight and Ving Rhames capitalize the acting talents. This is Rhames's best role in years. His tough warrior image never fades for a second, which is very convincing. His presentd talents were wrongfully overlooked in the 1997 Acadamy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Jon Voight's role as a man who comes to terms of what a true ally is. His heartdrenching role forces audiences to feel his character's learning progress and emotions.

"Rosewood" is a great movie for those looking for an factual intense drama. This will surely educate audiences about reality. This movie will become a classic in the near following years as it deserves.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Unfortunate History
Review: "Rosewood", starring Jon Voight and Ving Rhames, is a gripping true story about an all African-American town that was burned by an all white lynch mob in 1923, which killed many. Its powerful message sends an eyeopening attack in audiences' hearts. The filmmakers deserve tremendous respect for deeply exploring these chain of events to such levels. This was highly necessary for people to understand the impact of violence and racism. The intensity is so groundbreaking that it forces audiences inside the movie. Their research is highly obvious, making it very educational. The movie plot is brilliant, keeping the heart and soul alive in every scene:

A small town, Rosewood, is usually a peaceful, loving town. In New Years Eve 1922, everything functioned as usual. Around that time, a woman from a nearby town, Sumner, falsely accuses a black person of raping and assaulting her (it was actually a white man, but there was no rape). Once word is out, all hell breaks loose.

The recreation of the town is perfect. Every detail is flawless, including the styles of the early 1920's. Every building structure and creation is flawless. The costume designs are as flawless, looking like actual 1920's clothing.

The acting was intensely great. Everyone offers their own heart and soul sense into this movie, making it more powerful. Jon Voight and Ving Rhames capitalize the acting talents. This is Rhames's best role in years. His tough warrior image never fades for a second, which is very convincing. His presentd talents were wrongfully overlooked in the 1997 Acadamy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Jon Voight's role as a man who comes to terms of what a true ally is. His heartdrenching role forces audiences to feel his character's learning progress and emotions.

"Rosewood" is a great movie for those looking for an factual intense drama. This will surely educate audiences about reality. This movie will become a classic in the near following years as it deserves.

Rating:
Summary: Scary Potrayal
Review: A very scary potrayal when ignorant people are given even a little bit of power. A white woman accuses a black man of raping her an all hell breaks loose. Sane minds are hard to find and a race war breaks out in the rural southlands of Florida.

Whereas many innocent people most African Americans are killed, the touching drama of the story is how a black man and a white man lead a group of displaced black women and children to safety. The scenes to capture the spirit on how African Americans have overcome some much prejudice and hardship.

Its good to see taht our prsent generation has preached toelrace for one's fellow man. Lets hope that this continues an that movies like Rosewood can hopefully continue to educate people into the evils of prejudice.

Rating:
Summary: Revealing true horror of the American South
Review: As one that lives within a short drive of the spot from whence the actual incident depicted here occurred and as an African-American, I can relate to the horrible events that unfolded so long ago.

While Singleton does take some "dramatic license" in the telling of the story of vigilantism gone awry, the movie remains a powerful indictment of prejudice and persecution of a minority that was so prevalent in our past.

This is a not for the squeamish, but it is a story that begs to be told.

Rating:
Summary: Good storym aterial that falls apart due to Bad execution.
Review: Director John Singleton gets his opportunity to direct an epic black film in Rosewood and define himself as a black director. Unfortunately in this clumsy, clunky incomplete mess of a movie he shows us why he will never measure up to the high standards of black filmmaking Spike Lee established years ago with his definitive films, Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X.
The devil is in the details and they are a lot missing in Rosewood. In this story about a successful black town, the story focuses way too much on the white characters. A better director and screenwriter would have shown us a blanked and clear picture of what life was like in Rosewood Florida. I wanted to know why the African Americans lived in the town why they wanted to come there, what jobs they did, and who they were. Unfortunately Singleton doesn't answer any of these questions. Instead, he glosses over these details and gives us a hazy picture of a town that looks like any other in Jim Crow America. Worse he fills it with one-dimensional stock black characters. We get the old mammy, the schoolmarm, the angry black businessman and the new guy in town trying to start a new life for himself. Even the white characters come off like White Southern stereotypes. The liberal shopkeeper, the redneck killer, the nervous sheriff, the indifferent judge and the evil white woman get a lot of screen time but do nothing with it. The story completely starts to fall apart after the white woman lies about the rape. The white characters go on a campy lynching rampage that is reminiscent of Godzilla destroying Tokyo; it's sad that John Singletons inept direction trivializes the tragic deaths of African Americans who were lynched during this era. This film is supposed to be based on real life events and real people and they are treated like action movie fodder by Singleton. People we're supposed to care about die, but I didn't get to feel that way because I never got to know anyone because Singleton forgot to let us get to know anyone well enough in the first act of the film. The surviving women and children try to escape the rampage by hiding in the swamp. The remainder of the film devolves into a Jerry Bruckhiemer production as stuff burns up real good and we get a big chase scene as they try to get on a train out of town. The part of the film that angers me most is the scene where the Ving Rhames character is being lynched. He tells his horse Booker T to go and then allows himself to be hung; however while being strangled he miraculously cuts himself down and escapes. This one scene shows us why Singleton will never be a great filmmaker; instead of giving us powerful visuals in a compelling story he treats the source material like a joke. This was supposed to be a film about real people who lived and died in a tragedy not some over the top action flick like Lethal Weapon.
It's a pity that great actors like Ving Rhames, Jon Voight, Don Cheadle and the Late Esther Rolle had to work with Singleton on this project. They give good performances in spite of the shallow material. I wonder what they could have done with a better-written script and a more competent director. The material itself was very interesting and the project had a lot of potential. In the hands of Spike Lee, James Cameron, or Steven Spielberg this truly could have been an epic film. With them directing the film we would have gotten a clear picture of who the people were and what life was like in Rosewood Florida. For John Singleton this is truly a definitive film. When given the tools to make a great film he makes something awful. This is not his Roots. This shows why he needs to go back to film school and learn the roots of filmmaking.

Rating:
Summary: A Must See For All Humanity
Review: Every child, woman & man should see this film. Even after seeing "Rosewood" 10 times, I STILL cry, get angry, & smile--always in the same places. I will never know what it is like to be African-American, or a member of any minority for that matter. Therefore I can only emphasize with--not associate with--the pain & horror of discrimination. I wish I could say that even as far as the human race has come that discrimination no longer exists--but I see it every day in small to large examples. This film should be an in-class viewing requirement for high school & college students alike.

Rating:
Summary: Guns are good.
Review: Good show except for the rather 2 dimensional characters (previously discussed in other reviews). I am surprised that no one caught on to the fact that the black citizens who were armed were able to fight back. The unarmed were gunned down, mutilated, raped, burned, and on, and on. Lots of the normal rah rah about racism, injustice, etc, but almost nothing about defending one's life, family, and property against armed thugs by being armed. Heck of an idea!

Of course, thank goodness the Sheriff showed up to preserve peace and justice! HA!

...

Rating:
Summary: An excellant movie about what happened in Rosewood
Review: I first watched this movie on HBO, after viewing it with my wife we decided to rent it so our children could see what realy happened in Rosewood and learn about history, we are a white family and I feel it is important for my children to learn what realy happened there. After watching the movie we took a ride to the site that was once Rosewood, the only remaining structure is mr. Wrights house, the town is gone, we walked through the area that was once Rosewood and tried to imagine it as it was in the movie, we then went to Sumner and saw the site that was once the mill,we found some relics there, along with some buildings that had housed the residents of Sumner who worked in the mill, we then visited Mr. Wrights grave in Sumner, all in all the movie was great as it taught my family and myself about the history of the town and how horrible racism was back then.

Rating:
Summary: A Latter Day Western (Set In The South-East!)
Review: I loved this movie! It's a historical drama, a social/political film, a character study, an exploration in the worst & best in human behavior, & a downright great action film!

I call this film "A Later Day Western" for several reasons. First, it has a historical setting. (Obviously, however, since it takes place in the '20's & NOT in the West, it can't rightfully be called a "Western", but I'll get to the similarities in a second!) Second, like many great westerns, it examines social problems in a historical setting. Third, though it has "heroes" & "villains", the good-guys aren't all good (Voight has serious character flaws & is gripped by fear, but he ultimately does "the right thing") & the bad-guys have real "human" motivations. (The villain of the story is a dysfunctional, but loving father.) Finally, The Ving Rhames character (admittedly, a fictional character), is a strong-willed, wandering veteran (on horse-back), trying to find peace, but reluctantly forced to make a stand for right.

The story is based loosely on the actual Rosewood Massacres of 1923 & it delivers on all counts.

My personal favorite character is John Voight's young (2nd) wife, who stands up to the bigots & earns the respect of her step-children.

This film, unlike many other films about race-prejudice, is BALANCED, showing not just "bad rednecks", but decent (Caucasian) neighbors of the local African-americans being (unjustly) persecuted for a "rape" of a white woman (which, by the way, never really happened.) This movie reminded me of both "Bad Day At Black Rock" & "To Kill A Mockingbird." Those were two great films & by combining elements from them with a real historical event (tragedy) with a strong cast, good script, & fast-paced direction makes for a great film!

It's too bad that this film wasn't a bigger hit. If you buy this video, you WON'T be wasting your money. It's not just a later-day western, it's a later-day classic.