This is a reality hell for sure, a version of Crusoe that needs to be studied for its analyzation of slavery and the domination of one race over another. We don't see Peter O'Toole as Robin Crusoe getting stranded on the island. All you see if the beginning is him sitting there, sunning himself, when three native visitors from another island approaching to be friendly and he ends up shooting two of them to death. Rather than overpower him and kill him, the remaining one, Richard Roundtree, immediately plays subservient and survives, basically becoming his servant. Over time, it becomes very apparent that Roundtree has more of a moral compass than the educated and allegedly Christian or O'Toole does. But after awhile, he has had enough and stands up to O'Toole, refusing to work for him because O'Toole basically does nothing but order him around. Roundtree is seen throughout explaining what happened to his own people, and by the time he stands up and defends his own freedom, you are cheering for him.
It's an analogy of how any man can only take so much abuse, and the angelic Roundtree puts up with a lot before he uses force to put O'Toole in his place. There are times when O'Toole does break down and show humanity to Friday, but then he catches himself and he is back to being the savage white man who's on prejudices and hate how destroyed his soul. There is one moment that is very surprising, a hint of homosexuality from Roundtree with advances towards Crusoe since there are no women around, not something that I found entirely believable, but as the film goes on, the real question becomes what is morality and who decides what is moral or not. Another element that's interesting is Friday snapping when Crusoe offers to teach the children everything he knows and realizing that most of what he knows is not something they should know. But it is apparent that throughout the film, O'Toole does learn a bit as evidenced by his reaction to a slave ship landing near the island.
The songs that Roundtree sings throughout don't really serve a purpose, and you begin to wonder how the natives from Roundtree's island ended up learning perfect English. But those are minor gripes because this is taking Daniel Defoe's popular novel and twisting it to a complete opposite point of view. Both actors are excellent, but O'Toole because of the character he is playing does emote a bit too much at times while Roundtree is subtle, often funny, and given a much more humane character to play that you normally would see Friday played as, particularly in the 1954 movie with Dan O'Herlihy. That film is exquisitely done and is faithful to the novel, but it's nice to see aspects of island natives that are rarely ever shown in movies. They are either extremely savage or overly cheerful and welcoming of visitors, much to their own regret later on. Everybody is given a human element to understand the point of view of these different cultures, and yet the film never lectures on what is right or wrong, just showing how wrong it is to try to change someone from a different culture based on previous conceived notions.
It's an analogy of how any man can only take so much abuse, and the angelic Roundtree puts up with a lot before he uses force to put O'Toole in his place. There are times when O'Toole does break down and show humanity to Friday, but then he catches himself and he is back to being the savage white man who's on prejudices and hate how destroyed his soul. There is one moment that is very surprising, a hint of homosexuality from Roundtree with advances towards Crusoe since there are no women around, not something that I found entirely believable, but as the film goes on, the real question becomes what is morality and who decides what is moral or not. Another element that's interesting is Friday snapping when Crusoe offers to teach the children everything he knows and realizing that most of what he knows is not something they should know. But it is apparent that throughout the film, O'Toole does learn a bit as evidenced by his reaction to a slave ship landing near the island.
The songs that Roundtree sings throughout don't really serve a purpose, and you begin to wonder how the natives from Roundtree's island ended up learning perfect English. But those are minor gripes because this is taking Daniel Defoe's popular novel and twisting it to a complete opposite point of view. Both actors are excellent, but O'Toole because of the character he is playing does emote a bit too much at times while Roundtree is subtle, often funny, and given a much more humane character to play that you normally would see Friday played as, particularly in the 1954 movie with Dan O'Herlihy. That film is exquisitely done and is faithful to the novel, but it's nice to see aspects of island natives that are rarely ever shown in movies. They are either extremely savage or overly cheerful and welcoming of visitors, much to their own regret later on. Everybody is given a human element to understand the point of view of these different cultures, and yet the film never lectures on what is right or wrong, just showing how wrong it is to try to change someone from a different culture based on previous conceived notions.