It's an epic TV movie about a 110-year-old fictional woman from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. It's set in rural Louisiana and ranges from 1864 to 1962. Jane Pittman (Valerie Odell/Cicely Tyson) is interviewed in 1962 by a journalist (Michael Murphy) when she is 110.
She recounts in flashbacks her life as a 12-year-old enslaved person owned by Master Bryant (Richard Dysart), her efforts to move north after emancipation with Ned (Derrick Mills/Dan Smith/Thalmus Rasulala), the son of fellow slave, Big Laura (Odetta). Experiences follow in Reconstruction with Colonel Dye (David Hooks) and Joe Pittman (Rod Perry), followed by experiences around 1900, 1920, and in the early 1960s with her friend, Lena (Beatrice Winde) and Lena's son, Jimmy (Arnold Wilkerson).
Some of the dialogue is a bit hokey, and the transitions between scenes are sometimes abrupt. But the sense of oral history recounted by an illiterate woman is profoundly moving. Cicely Tyson is remarkable in her role as a dignified elderly African American woman who has experienced much tragedy in her life. Some of Jane Pittman's tragedies are shown, but not with the starkness of "12 Years a Slave." The range of years covered in the story meant many characters felt underdeveloped. But it was good to watch it.
She recounts in flashbacks her life as a 12-year-old enslaved person owned by Master Bryant (Richard Dysart), her efforts to move north after emancipation with Ned (Derrick Mills/Dan Smith/Thalmus Rasulala), the son of fellow slave, Big Laura (Odetta). Experiences follow in Reconstruction with Colonel Dye (David Hooks) and Joe Pittman (Rod Perry), followed by experiences around 1900, 1920, and in the early 1960s with her friend, Lena (Beatrice Winde) and Lena's son, Jimmy (Arnold Wilkerson).
Some of the dialogue is a bit hokey, and the transitions between scenes are sometimes abrupt. But the sense of oral history recounted by an illiterate woman is profoundly moving. Cicely Tyson is remarkable in her role as a dignified elderly African American woman who has experienced much tragedy in her life. Some of Jane Pittman's tragedies are shown, but not with the starkness of "12 Years a Slave." The range of years covered in the story meant many characters felt underdeveloped. But it was good to watch it.