Rating: 
Summary: One Of the most important movies of the 90's
Review: I saw rosewood in its run in theaters and was astounded by how good it was, and how little it did at the box office. Rosewood is not a happy movie, but should be required viewing no matter what color you are. It tells the story of a black town in Florida that was burned to the ground in 1923 all because of a "white" lie. The movie was hard to watch for me for the simple reason that it still shocks me to see that human beings could have so much hate for someone different. The acting is First rate, especially by Ving Rhames and Don Cheadle who both deserved oscar nominations. Why this movie was overlooked by the Oscars and audiences alike astounds me. If you are looking for an intellegent often troubling but at the same time uplifting drama with first rate acting and directing please rent Rosewood and give it the credit it deserved when it was out in theaters.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie!!!!
Review: I watched "Rosewood" in Texas when it came out in 1997. Unfortunately, it was not well received at the time - in fact, I found it really difficult to find a theatre that featured the film. Much like "Roots", this is a pivital movie, giving the viewers a snapshot of true events that occurred in Florida in 1922. Of course some artistic license is taken. At times, Vingh Raimes seems more like a super hero character....but the racist attitudes of the period seem to be accurately represented. One other note, I just read the rant about republicans verses democrats and I have this to say. It's funny how in modern times the republican party seems to celebrate the "retro" sensibilities of the 1950's when blacks just happened to be forced to ride on the back of the bus and received separate and unequal schooling. And when blacks also provided cheap labor as 2nd class citizens for whites who wanted to maintain their status as 1st class citizens of these United States....funny, no one really ever talks about how that power structure provided a world for middle class whites to flourish in before the modern civil rights movement took hold....a lopsided world missed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy, but I digress....Anyway, the author of that rant fails to mention that during the 1960's, racist "Dixiecrats" like Strom Thurmond left the democratic party to join with the republicans who accepted him with open arms. And recently before his death, Strom was celebrated by fellow republican Trent Lott who wished aloud that Strom had been president. - When I lived in Texas, the people I knew who regularly used racial slurs, and drove around with confederate flag license plates always (and I mean always) claimed to be republican when the subject of politics came up. The democratic party is no perfect party, but trying to make the republican party seem like a refuge and oasis for blacks just because Abe Lincoln once was a member is just plain ignorant!!!!
Rating:
Summary: An all too often forgotten part of our history.
Review: It could be argued that some of the black characters are far from above reproach. Esther Rolle's decision not to report the incident, Ving Rhames' (and others) desire to initially run from the conflict, or you could look at the promiscuity of Don Cheadle's sister's character who has an adulterous affair with Jon Voight. Superficially these may appear to be character flaws. That is unless you account for the reality of pervasive racism that exists in America (forget about just the South) by both the general populous and public officials in particular. The harsh truth is that black people didn't have the luxury to be (much) less than virtuous as it could too often result in imprisonment, financial ruin, beatings or lynchings. And even with all of the so called virtue exhibited by the black characters an accusation by a white woman was accepted even in lieu of truths known by other white characters. If that could happen to characters who were above reproach I hate to imagine what would have happened to less virtuous characters. If they were virtuous it's only because their very survival depended on it. This theme has repeated itself all too often and all too recently for a thinking individual to believe that these types of incidents couldn't happen today. The most deplorable fact is how long it took for the government to even acknowledge the horror and injustice of this and other events such as the destruction of Black Wall Street in Kansas City. That is another element of why blacks so often had to conduct themselves in a seemingly reproachless manner. And Mr. Singleton need not be criticized for the 'stereotypical' portrayals of southern racists. It was and is accurate. Just as it's accurate to demonstrate that there were and are whites who were fair minded and exhibited tremendous bravery of their own account. There is nothing 'happy' about this movie at all. Look at the countless number of lives that were either ruined or ended because of our collective disease. The final conflict underscores the real tragedy that racism is. It destroys the lives and humanity of all it's participant's be they perpetrators or victims. How many children lost their parents? How many individuals lost their livelihood or savings? How many families were destroyed? That notwithstanding it is a monumental achievment for Mr. Singleton if not necessarily a cinematic masterpiece. But who ever said that history has to be exiciting or uplifting? It's just what is. For that Mr. Singleton deserves the highest commendation just to get a film of this nature made let alone telling a too often suppressed and ignored part of our history. For that I give it 5 stars. However, there are many nuances to the film which I personally only recognized after multiple viewings. It's an experience that should be viewed, discussed and reflected upon. That's certainly something I can't say about much of what's coming out of Hollywood today. What I wonder about is how many actual Rosewood's have occured that have never been recorded or recognized.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie Bad DVD
Review: It is a flipper! You have to switch sides of the DVD to finish watching the movie. This is another poor example of Warner Brothers saving a buck.
Rating:
Summary: i love the move
Review: it was a move that i would sugest it to all of my freinds and it was sad and happy i love it
Rating:
Summary: A gripping drama of a shameful past.
Review: One of the most gripping dramas of a shameful episode of America's past. Many of the elements of this story have taken place numerous times over in the racist south. It is a story that needed to be told.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, AWFUL DVD!!!
Review: Rosewood is a great movie!! The cast is well directed, and the subjectmatter is not sugar-coated, so get ready for racial violence & prejudice typical of the early 1900's.Now, as for the DVD, I HATE IT!! For some strange reason, Warner Brothers felt the need to split the movie into halves, so that you have to turn the disc over during the movie!! What's up with that ?? The VHS version is on one tape, and this DVD lacks any special bonus features to warrant a 'mono layered' disc.They did the same thing to the great'Goodfells' movie, so try to read DVD specs on the back of any Warner Brothers case.They have a habit of making lackuster DVDs!!
Rating:
Summary: A Very Powerful Movie
Review: Rosewood shows what happens when hatred runs unchecked, and how one lie, combined with hate, envy, and racial enmity, led to the destruction of an African American township in Florida. As powerful as the movie is, the true story of Rosewood was probably even worse, given that the level torture, mutilation, and brutality inflicted on the Black residents of the town could never be properly put on-screen and released by a Hollywood studio. The ratings system wouldn't allow it, and movie theaters don't want their patrons to get sick and leave the theater. If there was any "silver lining" in this movie version of a horrid episode in American history, it is that Rosewood did an admirable job of reflecting what true mature manhood is all about. True manhood in the movie is shown when men (Don Cheadle & Ving Rimes) provide for, serve, and protect their families and communities from outside forces of evil that seek to destroy them. Don Cheadle's character was willing to give his life so his wife and family could escape from the lynch mob, and Mr. Mann was willing to sacrifice himself to get women, children, and elders to safety. True manhood is exhibited when Mr. Mann takes a frightened young boy, gives him responsibility, and turns him into a leader. True manhood also involves chosing to do the right thing despite your own personal prejudices and societal/peer pressure, as reflected by Jon Voight's character, and even in the brief scene of a lawman and his posse who turn back the lynch mob at the county line. False manhood is reflected by the ringleader of the lynch mob, who tried to teach his son that manhood was composed learning how to torture, shoot, and kill other humans beings like animals, as well as drinking and acting like a fool. Ultimately, his son rejected that version of manhood. Manhood may not be a popular topic in our politically correct times, but it was good to see a movie showing men exhibiting mature manhood by standing up to tyranny and evil and doing the right thing for their families and communities. Rosewood is a powerful movie that angers and saddens you when you realize the events depicted on screen actually occured (and were far worse), but also encourages you when you see how a people can survive in the midst of murderous chaos when men stand up and be men. To see the actual results of racially-inspired lynchings, torture, and murder, take a look at the lynching photography book "Without Sanctuary", or read "Rituals of Blood" by Orlando Patterson. The scenes in "Rosewood" will pale by comparison.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Rosey
Review: Rosewood's incendiary topic is historically-based and centers around a one-horse Florida town that in 1923 was the sight of a brutal white-on-black massacre. What a good movie can do is illuminate the conflict, cast an eye on the suspicious and ultimately destructive forces that laid seige to the town and set-off a wave of racist brutality. The quandry in this sort of movie is how to make a racist unique and avoid stereotypes. Director John Singleton and screenwriter Gregory Poirer's answers are inconclusive. Their gun-toting dolts chew ta-ba-kee, toss around the n-word like a football, and wear suspenders that accentuate their bloated beer-bellies. For the most part they're not real enough, but the terror they perpetrate is. Rhames is electrifying in a difficult role; Voight is all nerves and nuance. John Singleton has, as usual, chosen a provocative topic. It's a big screen natural. What weakens his work is his inability to speak for a group while never forgetting the individual. It's a tough balance, but Singleton's heroes are above reproach and thus rarely believable. In this often stunning work, racial pride takes precedence over moral complexity. Lessons can be taught less obviously than that.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie; underrated
Review: ROSEWOOD: gone in two weeks at the theatre; what happened? Poor marketing and maybe everyone thought this was a black story. Based on a true story of a small town in Florida in the 1920s where a white woman falsely accused a black man of raping her (it was really a white lover who beat her) and it resulted in a lynch mob on all the black people. Excellent if not disturbing.
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