I really liked this movie. I like when skeletons are brought out of the closet. I do think the movie tried to squeeze too much into a small amount of time, but it did it's best. I would've liked to see more on Sally's relationship with her children instead of these sides references to them when they grew up. I mean, that's what all the hoopla was about wasn't it? The fact that the kids are Jeffersons? I'm sure these kids had some issues with dark-skinned slaves and wanted to know why they were slaves when they were pretty much as white as the owners. I think issues like that could've and should've been addressed more.
Carmen Ejogo blew me away as Sally. She's simply stunning on screen. I appreciated the fact that she studied the accents of the South during that time. It wasn't full-fledged southern twang, but a mix of various tones, since the country was still in its early inception stages. I appreciated Mare's portrayal of Jefferson's daughter who's obsessed with protecting his legacy, even when he doesn't seem too preoccupied with it. It sounds very much like his white descendants today. They aren't able to fully grasp that this man was human. The reigning social habit of the day was to take black concubines who were their slaves. It's horrible to us, but it was natural to them.
It's a little unsettling that the relationship is played so much as this Harlequinn romance novel when many similar situations were hardly that. Rape was common in these types of relationships, whether by brute force or seduction. I'm loathe to think that Sally, being only 15 or so at the time she started her relationship with Jefferon, was simply going to lie down like that and understand a loving, committed relationship. On the other hand, she was aware of her family's history of women becoming their master's concubines. Maybe she understood life at that age a lot better than most of us in our age of modernity can understand now. Their relationship touches on many levels, and the movie left you wondering. It was a nice touch, because we don't know what happened at all.
I'm big on black people getting what's theirs, and I think this story is a great example of people having a right to something. You may not like the relationship, but it happened and they're here, so give them what's theirs. America's habit of utterly dismissing the claims of blacks because we have oral histories instead of written ones, just irks me to no end. (Like someone can't write a lie) The slaves knew what was going on, so they aren't in the habit of lying about it. That kind of thing was usually done by the masters and their families to cover up their fascination with power. The movie was a little light considering the severity of the place and time, but it was still a good film. The scene where Sally's baby dies and her niece, Martha, simply dismisses her with a curt "I'm sorry" was wonderfully done. The woman had given birth to the president's child and lost it. If it was Jefferson's late wife, it would've been something completely different. And the child would've been buried in the family cemetery to boot. That's the legacy of slavery. I'm sure there were historical inaccuracies, but one comes to expect this with Hollywood portrayals.
Carmen Ejogo blew me away as Sally. She's simply stunning on screen. I appreciated the fact that she studied the accents of the South during that time. It wasn't full-fledged southern twang, but a mix of various tones, since the country was still in its early inception stages. I appreciated Mare's portrayal of Jefferson's daughter who's obsessed with protecting his legacy, even when he doesn't seem too preoccupied with it. It sounds very much like his white descendants today. They aren't able to fully grasp that this man was human. The reigning social habit of the day was to take black concubines who were their slaves. It's horrible to us, but it was natural to them.
It's a little unsettling that the relationship is played so much as this Harlequinn romance novel when many similar situations were hardly that. Rape was common in these types of relationships, whether by brute force or seduction. I'm loathe to think that Sally, being only 15 or so at the time she started her relationship with Jefferon, was simply going to lie down like that and understand a loving, committed relationship. On the other hand, she was aware of her family's history of women becoming their master's concubines. Maybe she understood life at that age a lot better than most of us in our age of modernity can understand now. Their relationship touches on many levels, and the movie left you wondering. It was a nice touch, because we don't know what happened at all.
I'm big on black people getting what's theirs, and I think this story is a great example of people having a right to something. You may not like the relationship, but it happened and they're here, so give them what's theirs. America's habit of utterly dismissing the claims of blacks because we have oral histories instead of written ones, just irks me to no end. (Like someone can't write a lie) The slaves knew what was going on, so they aren't in the habit of lying about it. That kind of thing was usually done by the masters and their families to cover up their fascination with power. The movie was a little light considering the severity of the place and time, but it was still a good film. The scene where Sally's baby dies and her niece, Martha, simply dismisses her with a curt "I'm sorry" was wonderfully done. The woman had given birth to the president's child and lost it. If it was Jefferson's late wife, it would've been something completely different. And the child would've been buried in the family cemetery to boot. That's the legacy of slavery. I'm sure there were historical inaccuracies, but one comes to expect this with Hollywood portrayals.