Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good concept, poorly executed.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This film is raw, real, honest and scary. Films aren't made like this because it causes people to look deep within themselves and consider the part all have played in such a horrible event. Many don't want to look at events this morbid. Yet its truthful.The film tells the truth, but I think it goes too far. The amount of gross nudity, and the enjoyment of such was just disturbing. While I know it may be the truth, a truth that does need to be addressed it is still very uncomfortable, and yet I think it is a discomfort that some people need to visit. For me I already knew these stories that covered slavery so I didn't necessarily need the added imagery. But still this film is a powerful telling of harsh truth.I am polarized by how to score this film. disturbingly truthful and honest is all I can think of....

This is not real. But it was. That's the rub.A chopper goes back in time to the slavery days of America. The pre Civil War years when blacks were basically livestock.Slaves are bought, sold, traded, and given away as gifts. No concern for the families being broken up so callously. And the traders thought this was God's will. A preacher even affirms this.They eat the back end of the crops. And if they refuse, they get force fed. These scenes are hard to watch because of the violence and the grossness. But it DID happen that way.Of course you have your whipping scenes. Seems ordinary, but remember, the blacks weren't criminals. They were people like the rest of us. They did nothing to deserve their plight.What shocked me was watching the owners grab body parts like they were looking for ripe veggies. And check their teeth and eyes like they were buying a race horse.Shock-o-rama. And mostly because it's true.

Due to the negative (and at times plain vitriolic) reaction to the previous documentary by Jacopetti and Prosperi, "Africa Addio", this film was made to rebuff the critics and appear more "sensetive" to the black race. One can easily see that in the fact that this is the first work of the film makers that reallies primarily on re-enactments and not actual documented footage. It's also fairly easy to surmise when the film chooses to take "creative license" with history. Don't misinterpret me, slavery by and large was an abhorrent nasty practice no matter how you slice it. The act of forcing someone, anyone against their will to do your work is evil. That being said, looking at it from a different standpoint, slaves were commodities, financial commodities. If a slave died, that was a major net profit you lost. No one was going to buy a slave just to kill it. Immegrants (be they Irish, Chinese, or whatever) were far more likely to die while working for slave-wages just for that reason. They were NOT commodities to be bought or sold. The point being, that the most crude treatment of blacks as depicted in this film just plainly did NOT happen. By trying to shirk the negative connotation of the last movie, the director's choose to embrace political correctness for this one and the pendulum swung too far the other way. They had compromised the integrity that they had built with the previous Mondo films.My Grade: D

I viewed this particular film in the summer of 1972 in New York City. I remember that it was opening day and the turnout was surprisingly large. The other thing that I remembered was that I thought the filmmakers had taken an original approach as far as their documentary-style on slavery. As if I were actually there, watching the events take place. As an African-American man, I found the film fascinating and enlightening. The only thing I did find questionable was, once again, the Black man was depicted as a sexual beast with over-sized reproductive organs. I do believe that this, to some, is what made the movie so titillating. Overall, I still had a pleasant movie going experience. I would like to ask any readers of this commentary that if they have any knowledge of how I may a obtain a copy of this film to please contact me through my e-mail.