Official Synopsis
The classic American saga is reimagined for a whole new generation. This epic 4-part miniseries tells the story of Kunta Kinte, a West African youth sold into slavery. This time, we follow Kunta and his family through the generations, up to the Civil War.
To preface, let me just say that I adored and loved the original series from the 70s. It was an eye-opening, powerful experience for me as a white youth in high school and one that I will never forget. When my kids are old enough to understand and appreciate it, I will pass it on to them. It is that important, even as an ugly part of America’s past.
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If you’re not familiar with the series, then let me catch you up. Alex Haley wrote a book by the same name that traces back his heritage to Africa starting with the Kunte family. He details Kunte’s journey, specifically Kunta’s, from Africa to being captured and sold in America as a slave, as well as Kunta’s struggle to keep the Kinte family alive inside of himself (and his family for generations).
ROOTS put into perspective how absolutely atrocious it was to be a slave and how bad that role rippled through history and set unacceptable ways of living for the African-American community even for today. The series tells of the inception of substandard living for African-Americans and treatment that was built around never giving African-Americans a chance to succeed or, in a sense, be free like white America has enjoyed for 300 years. Granted, there are people that will argue that every chance has been given to the African-American community to be on the same level as, but those who argue that point probably didn’t start out like African-American’s did. For example, if you’re balking at the Black Lives Matter movement, then I say give ROOTS a go and see why black lives need to matter because they didn’t when this country was founded. We’re not talking about walking a mile in the shoes of African-Americans, we’re talking about needing to walk 300 years worth of miles to fully understand things. If you need a place to start, then ROOTS might be that place.
Having said all this, turning back into critic mode now, I think that 2016’s ROOTS probably isn’t as good as the original 70s version in regards to impactfulness that drives home the point of the series. Granted, if you haven’t seen the original, then your opinion of the show might vary from mine, but what this ROOTS series brought in terms of visual brutality and more direct racism, in comparison to the old, the old brought more meaningful characters and relationships that truly show how terrible and desperate situations can become for slaves. For example, when Kunta (Malachi Kirby) is being whipped by Connelly (Adam Fergus) ferociously, where Connelly is attempting to beat Kinte’s African heritage out of him in exchange for his slave identity, the scene focuses more on the brutality of the moment, rather than the symbolism. Now, I’m all for showing exactly how terrible situations can get in the heat of the moment (Passion of the Christ did that well), because that was kind of sugarcoated in the original series, visually, but not at the expense of the impact of the message. It’s more important to know what was at stake for Kunta at this moment, rather than to distract the audience with how badly beaten he was by Connelly’s whip. LaVar Burton’s Kunta Kinte’s portrayal of this moment was both painful to watch, but also painful to see when his character finally gave in to the white owners and oppressors. It was sad to see a proud African warrior beaten into becoming a disjointed figure of his heritage. It also reminds me of what Alfred Hitchcock once stated, and I’m paraphrasing here, that what you can’t see is more scary. It’s true and doubly-so for a moment like this and I wish the producers/director would have taken the moment into account before the abuse.
The other issue with this series, and one that can squarely be blamed on the producers/writers/directors, is the lack of relationships. The original ROOTS was a huge show that didn’t rush itself because it knew how important every moment and interaction seemed to be. This show seems to want to get to those moments without fully developing relationships with its characters. For example, the relationship between Kunta Kinte and Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) in the 70s show was developed slowly and methodically. The 70s version of the show portrayed the strong, yet stern relationship between the characters. You got a feeling of closeness between the two through Fiddler teaching Kunta the way things were in America, which reverberated strongly when Fiddler sees Kunta has broken his chains in the tobacco barn. You get a strong sense of internal struggle, anger and empathy from Fiddler towards Kunta because of the built up relationship. It was so damn powerful because of those extra moments of Fiddler helping to cultivate and raise Kunta into Kunta’s slave situation.
The 2016 version seems more distracted to bring the moment to fruition, rather than the relationship. It seems to forget how important it was to establish how conflicted Fiddler (Forest Whitaker) was at that moment and how much trouble he was going to be in for Kunta being out of his chains and eventually on the run. The power of the moment was lost in exchange for time limits and story progression. It’s a shame and this sort of thing happens throughout the series. It happened at the beginning where we’re not really given enough time to know what home meant to Kunta in Africa or what his mother meant to him (this was a big deal in the 70s version). Relationship building is one of the bigger downfalls of the new series, though if you have no point of reference from the 70s series, then you might be fine with it. I’m a huge proponent of taking more time to develop characters and relationships, rather than moments in films.
With all this criticism of the series, I will say that every actor and actress gave their heart to the cause with the new ROOTS. I love Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte. He is believable in nearly every facet of that character. He does a superb job of keeping the spirit of Kunta Kinte alive after nearly 40 years since we last saw the man in motion. The supporting cast does a great job in the roles and script they were given. Whitaker’s take on Fiddler is different than Gossett Jr.’s, but nonetheless welcomed in intention. Regé-Jean Page’s Chicken George is a worthy successor to Ben Vereen’s established character, both strong in person and with family. All of the actors and actresses performances are worthy of the characters they portray in the story. They do a great job of reminding people of the importance of their history, as well as the struggles the people went through in their stories.
Overall, I’m not overly impressed with the 2016 version of ROOTS when compared to the 1977 version, and I realize I’m one of the few critics who didn’t take to it. I think that tight budgets and tight time disrupted, and in some instances crippled the powerfulness of the message ROOTS is trying to pass on to its audience, though some accurate changes, especially on the name side, were welcomed.
Regardless of my opinion, I’m hopeful that the new series will at the very least bring people to see the old series, which they should anyway, and together both series should bring some light or even perspective about African-American heritage from the 1700s until now. This series and the original that came before it should be a in every school in America and shouldn’t be ignored.
