Customer Reviews

Freedom Song [VHS]

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Civil Rights - may be a cliche' because there is not enough interesting information out there that captures ones attention without them feeling sad for a couple of days with no lasting effect. Danny Glovers film Freedom Song, shows the turmoil within the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee("snick")as well as the overwhelming odds without. The general public know Dr. Martin Luther King, but little about anything else. Truth be known, Dr King would have failed without the concerted efforts of the other groups such as SNCC. It was good to see the diversity of youth the way it really was. What a positive thing for our children of all races to see, how when you believe in something the price is very high, but attainable.

I teach US History at the secondary level. Recently I used this video as part of our examination of the twin themes of resistance and oppression during the Civil Rights Era. Rather than give a detailed analysis of the movie's merits (there are many, but it also has a few very minor production flaws), let me illustrate my support of the video by way of example. We watched the video over a four day period, in half hour chunks. During the second day of viewing (about 20 or so minutes into the film) a fight erupted in the hallway outside my classroom: it was a zinger, complete with all manner of crucial language being shouted at the top of very capable student lungs. Drawn to the action I went outside to help break up the fight and, in the process, was drawn away from my classroom for a good two or three minutes. Now anyone who works at the secondary level knows that fights generally tend to draw students to them like metal to a magnet; in my experience this is the case regardless of where the students are or what they're doing. They often converge on the action with downright ferocity so they don't miss anything really noteworthy. Well, I returned to my classroom to find the door shut (big uh-oh)... Yet after opening it, I found my entire class sitting there, rapt, watching the video as if nothing had just occurred outside the room. I noticed they had even backed up the video a bit, presumably to re-watch the moments interrupted by the commotion. In my nine years of teaching, NOTHING I have seen stops students in my school from rushing to watch a fight. This video, however, did just that--and in spades. With regard to content, the film does a wonderful job of raising questions of the complexity of social action. It doesn't sentimentalize or oversimplify, which is critical for getting students to really think about and discuss the issues most relevant to the Civil Rights Era. It also puts young people at the center of the action (the main character is a high school student), which is really helpful for students to empathize with the story. In short, I can't give this film a high enough rating. Just be sure to follow it up with some rich discussion and question-asking. Your students should really enjoy and learn from the experience of watching it. Highly recommended.

Freedom Song is a powerful drama rather than a dry documentary. I just love the way the Civil Rights movement becomes a nonfiction narrative that grabs the audience from the very first scene and keeps them moving right along with the action. This film is told as a flashback from the main character's point of view and he begins in his youth when he was mistreated by whites for going into a diner inadvertently (he was like 4) and the owner forced his father to whip him in the diner--an act his father had never done before. It is through experience as a black man in the south that this young man learns about life. The film captures many of the trials and tribulations Blacks faced at that time including voter registration, sit-ins, marches, secret Snick meetings, and Freedom Riders. I found the movie interesting because the characters are very believable and the story so true to life for the 1960s. The young man who first was whipped in the diner experiences triumph in the end. A true winner of a film. Anyone interested in the Civil Rights Movement should definitely see this, because it is a behind the scenes look at what was happening throughout the south. Black men and women put their lives on the line on a daily basis, some dying in the process, but they persevered to secure equality for their people.

I teach high school and taught this film this year. The students, who often are disconnected to school, this film grabbed their attention and kept it. They learned about diversity, discrimination, and the Civil Rights movement. It was an incredible experience for them all. Some even cried. Get this film.

I was a SNCC field secretary in the Sixties. The film industry has not done well by those times. Almost inevitably, white men in authority (the lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird, the FBI agents in Mississippi Burning) are the major figures, who help the poor black folks out. Finally, along comes FREEDOM SONG, which tells the story the way I know it happened: African Americans helping, defending, organizing, defying state terror themselves. The white man in authority is a helpless Justice Department figure on the sidelines.

That and the remarkable acting and direction make it the film to see if you want to know what actually went on in Mississippi during those incredible times.

Amazing look at one of the many phases of the civil rights movement. Film does a great job of showing the process of voter registration and non violent civil disobediance. Gives you a nice look of what one could expect in that time period.

Our US History Students finally understood the concept of grassroots movements as it pertained to the CRM. Through this movie and the worksheets through Bringing the movement back to the CRM, our students fully understand oppression, resistance and how young people were involved in the CRM.

On Memorial Day 2006, I was at my Church for our special holiday service. I was assigned to help with passing out communion and the offering plate. After the ushers serve, we pray and take communion ourselves. One of the gentlemen prayed in thanks for those who served, fought and died in wars so that Americans could maintain life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Too bad he had nothing to say about those who fought the battle for the Civil Rights Movement. Blacks have fought in this country's wars since 1775, but soldiers who came home from WWII and Korea were still denied even the most basic freedoms- to live the lives they wanted to live. The Civil Rights movement really was the last battle of the American Revolution.

Freedom Song is an outstanding film and is as important a movie as Saving Private Ryan or Flags of our Fathers. It represents the events that made it possible for people like me- I'm African-American- to even go see SPR and Flags in any theatre I want and sit wherever I choose. In one of the other reviews, a teacher mentioned he shows this film to his students. God bless him. If we forget the sacrifices of those who came before us- the civil rights crusaders or the soldiers of our country's wars- we forget who we are and what we stand for- a nation "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

This movie is an accurate and touching portrayal of Mississippi from a racial standpoint in the early 1960's. I am a professor at a small college and show this video often to my students, most born after 1980, to reveal what conditions were like for African Americans in the South during the civil rights movement. I accompany the movie with clips from Eyes on the Prize. The students never fail to be impressed with both videos, but the narration and the consistant character portrayal in Freedom Song really make poignant the heroism of SNCC participants.

This film is a wonderful dramatization of the civil rights struggle in a small town in Mississippi. The story is complex and compelling. The viewer is drawn in by the difficulties faced by the young hero who struggles to understand the limitations of his father's way of life while fighting for freedom. This film makes the civil rights movement more real and personal than most documentaries can.

What could have been an excellent movie, was ruined by the profanity of the main characters (Danny Glover and his son) as well as the other characters.

Here is the profanity that is riddled throughout the movie.

At the beginning of the movie, "damn' is heard in the background. Shortly after, Danny Glover said, "Hell, I fought Hitler"

The police officer asks, "Who the hell is this?"

"Scratchin' your ass" "Piss off a cow" "Damn, he was non-violent," Hell no!" "What the hell you doin'?"

"Not no, Hell no!" "This is gonna be a hell of a lot more important. It's more important than any damn bus station..." "I got my ass whipped because of some damn bus station." "You got your ass whipped because you broke rules." "No. I got my ass whipped because you would not stand up for me." "You think I didn't want to kill everyone of them redneck sons of bitches that day? Pasty sons of bitches"

"Don't talk back to me about the law you bitch. Get the hell out" "We're going" "Damn sure are"

"Kick his ass" "What you all do with them bastards?"

As one man struck a man, he repeated three times: "You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch."

"I don't want to marry your ugly-ass daughter."

"Hell why don't you just take off." "Oh my God!"

"We got our asses kicked." "Dora got arrested sittin' in the damn bus station. The damn bus station's still segregated." "Cut the damn noise."

One of the main characters, who is working for change is shown reading a book called "Yogi" - (You may want to research what exactly is being promoted here.)

As the black young people marched, one white young man held his private parts as he made obsene gestures.

About the movie: Not only are viewers being exposed to the terrible realities of prejudices that have occurred in the U.S, but from this movie, they are also learning profanity as well, which propagates disrespect.

We should be teaching issues without violating principles.

Is this kind 'talk' something we want to continue 'passing down' to following generations?

The movie could have been powerfully educational without the profanity.