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Special Features
Behind the scenes at the Cutler Majestic Theatre
Celebrity interviews
Celebrity interviews
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The History Channel's The People Speak combines a documentary with a stage show and a concert. The material comes from Howard Zinn's bestselling books, particularly A People's History of the United States. As Zinn narrates, photographs and illustrations alternate with readings and performances that took place in Boston and Malibu, California, between 2008 and 2009 (Zinn passed away in 2010).
Producer Matt Damon, who grew up next door to the history professor, starts by reading from the Declaration of Independence, followed by other notables, among them Morgan Freeman (as Frederick Douglass), David Strathairn (John Brown), Marisa Tomei (Harriet Hanson Robinson), Sean Penn (Kevin Tillman, the brother of Pat Tillman), and coproducer Josh Brolin (Mark Twain). Others include Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington, Benjamin Bratt, Rosario Dawson, and Don Cheadle, most of whom play several parts.
Some of the finest readers, however, aren't actors. Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels, for instance, appears visibly shaken as he reads from "David Walker's Appeal." Except for Bob Dylan's croak on Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" and the edit that splits John Legend's version of the traditional "No More Auction Block" in two, the songs all work well, particularly Eddie Vedder with Dylan's "Masters of War" and Bruce Springsteen with Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," the only selection recorded sans audience (Zinn doesn't mention it, but "Auction Block" inspired Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"). Supplements include cast interviews and a featurette in which Damon notes that he originally envisioned the production as a television miniseries. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Producer Matt Damon, who grew up next door to the history professor, starts by reading from the Declaration of Independence, followed by other notables, among them Morgan Freeman (as Frederick Douglass), David Strathairn (John Brown), Marisa Tomei (Harriet Hanson Robinson), Sean Penn (Kevin Tillman, the brother of Pat Tillman), and coproducer Josh Brolin (Mark Twain). Others include Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington, Benjamin Bratt, Rosario Dawson, and Don Cheadle, most of whom play several parts.
Some of the finest readers, however, aren't actors. Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels, for instance, appears visibly shaken as he reads from "David Walker's Appeal." Except for Bob Dylan's croak on Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" and the edit that splits John Legend's version of the traditional "No More Auction Block" in two, the songs all work well, particularly Eddie Vedder with Dylan's "Masters of War" and Bruce Springsteen with Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," the only selection recorded sans audience (Zinn doesn't mention it, but "Auction Block" inspired Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"). Supplements include cast interviews and a featurette in which Damon notes that he originally envisioned the production as a television miniseries. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
Product Description
THE PEOPLE SPEAK is a beautiful and moving film inspired by Howard Zinn s books A People s History of the United States first published in 1980 and one of the bestselling history books in the United States and Voices of a People s History of the United States, the primary-source companion to A People s History of the United States, edited with Anthony Arnove.
The film features the actual words (in letters, songs, poems, speeches, and manifestoes) of rebels, dissenters, and visionaries from our past and present including Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Bob Dylan, Langston Hughes, Chief Joseph, Muhammad Ali, and unknown veterans, union workers, abolitionists, and many others never featured in high school textbooks. These dramatic moments from our history are brought to life by a group of remarkable musicians and actors.
Like Howard Zinn s work as a whole, THE PEOPLE SPEAK celebrates the extraordinary possibilities for creating social change that ordinary people have realized throughout the course of our nation s rich but often ignored history of dissent and protest.
THE PEOPLE SPEAK is produced by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove, and Howard Zinn, co-directed by Moore, Arnove and Zinn, and features dramatic and musical performances by Allison Moorer, Benjamin Bratt, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Robinson, Christina Kirk, Danny Glover, Darryl DMC McDaniels, David Strathairn, Don Cheadle, Eddie Vedder, Harris Yulin, Jasmine Guy, John Legend, Josh Brolin, Kathleen Chalfant, Kerry Washington, Lupe Fiasco, Marisa Tomei, Martín Espada, Matt Damon, Michael Ealy, Mike O'Malley, Morgan Freeman, P!nk, Q'orianka Kilcher, Reg E. Cathey, Rich Robinson, Rosario Dawson, Sandra Oh, Sean Penn, Staceyann Chin, Van Dyke Parks, and Viggo Mortensen. Narrated by Howard Zinn.
Special Features
- Behind the Scenes at the Cutler Majestic Theatre
- Celebrity Interviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
59 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you like Zinn, you'll like this,
This review is from: The People Speak (Extended Edition) (DVD)
If Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" is your type of history, this is a must have for your collection. The primary sources are good and the performances are powerful. Teachers might like this as a companion to teaching the use of primary source documents. Zinn gives the right amount of context to the pieces so that they make sense.
This review is based on the program that aired on The History Channel.
62 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truth in History - what a concept,
By
This review is from: The People Speak (Extended Edition) (DVD)
I watched the video and plan to buy the book for myself and others.
It's sad to see accusations that Zinn loves to leave out information (even though his facts are true) when our school system teaches history without most of the mitigating facts. We as a society can never grow if we cannot look upon our past actions in the context of truth. Hearing the words of everyday people that helped change our society in this country makes me proud to be in America. Name calling and accusations about such a fine work mystifies me, but so does slavery, why women were not able to vote, and treatment of Indians and so on. I applaud the work of Howard Zinn and others who show the True beating of hearts in our democracy.
52 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic approach to American History,
By
This review is from: The People Speak (Extended Edition) (DVD)
(This is based on the version that aired on History -- this DVD is that plus more).
This is a fantastic approach to U.S. history -- the words of real people who struggled to make their lives (and ours) better; read by a fantastic line-up of actors. These are the voices that are too often left out of U.S. history. If you like Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, you'll like this. If you don't know that book, check out this movie (watch it with others!) and then go read the book.
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