Sankofa

I saw this film in Washington, DC in 1995 and have since purchased the tape. It is a blast of African pride and anti-slavery vigor from Ethiopian-born director Haile Gerima. Gerima is a professor at Howard University in DC and his films confront the issues of race, integration, and violence in Africa and America. "Sankofa" is available through Mypheduh films (Gerima's production company) in DC.

The story begins and ends on a small island in West Africa, where 'Mona', an African-American fashion model, is in the present day. The middle of the film consists of Mona, through magic realism, being transported back to a slave plantation in 18th-century America. For those of you who wonder about what it was like to be a slave back then, under those barbaric and intolerable conditions, this is your chance. "Sankofa" is not for the faint of heart. Yet its violent scenes are never overdone, and the film's final 'message' is a positive one.

It's a shame that this film at this time has an IMDB "rating" of only 5 or so, because 31 of the 44 votes cast have been "10"s, including mine. I guess this film has alienated a few people, but most powerful films do that. A very important film from a gifted and underrated director.

As an African-American male this film really hit home for me. It upsets me that there aren't more films like this from the perspective of the oppressed. I can't believe I didn't hear of this film until recently, the same as I never heard of great Africans and people of African descent like Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, Dr. John Henrick Clarke, Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. Carter G. Woodson and many others like them until recently. This film shows how life today among blacks strongly resembles the life of slaves on the plantation. We think we are free but our minds are stuck in self hatred. I recommend this movie to people of all races and backgrounds, very eye-opening and educational. 10 times better than any Roots or Amistad or Color Purple that was made by people not of African descent

Na mate, in my usual style, I won't touch on the plot, characters etc .. This is about me and 3 brothers who went to see this film. Some of us were West African, some Horn African (Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia etc), some Caribbean etc.

These usual jovial, come let we make jokes, guys went to see this film. Throughout the entire film we did not look at each other ONCE, at the end we avoided eye contact as we filed out. My jaw was aching from how hard I must have had it clenched to prevent it from opening and releasing floogates of emotions. Those emotions... man, that film showed me just how much pain there is in us, which we have not faced up to (before we were not allowed, but now we can if we are Lion enough to). I'd like to say we all got a wake up call from that film, and went on to find out more about the middle passage which was whitewashed outta of our schooling. But no, interestingly enough unlike the film's shallow model who does face up to the enslavement past, and grows from it. Some of my friends did the opposite and remain just like the model was like in the begining of the movie. And After watching the film -- again and again -- I can understand why.

This movie is so complex. Never before had an African writer/director ventured into such unknown territory. This movie is incredible! A black fashion model, who is posing for a fashion shoot amidst the beautiful scenery of Africa, is transported back in time through an African slave trade castle. Great cinematography and artistic creativity. This movie is not only entertainment, it is an experience!

Hailes Sankofa is the first and best movie about slavery ever made. Forget Amistad go see this movie if you can find it. The director of this movie could not get funding for this movie as the content was considered 'too controversial'. He made the movie outside of Hollywood and this resulted in a honest view on the history of slavery. This movie had bad distribution and no advertisement but it sold out at the box offices in America. The movie is named after the bird Sankofa. This bird is always looking back to where it came from. This massage is important throughout the movie; for a better understanding of the present and the future you need to know where you came from and how history has treated you.