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Title: Often powerful and moving documentary
Review: Various wonderful actors, from Samuel Jackson to Ruby Dee read theactual transcripts of former slaves' memories of their experiences, asrecorded by the Library of Congress in the 1930s.Certainly hearing people's own experiences in their own words bring thesurreal horrors of slavery to life in a way that no dramatization can.My only complaint, as with several other HBO documentaries, is that at75 minutes this actually feels a little too short, a little racedthrough. I would have preferred to hear more of these people'sjourneys. As it is, sometimes the emotion is just building when weswitch to another reader and another story.Also, inter-cutting somewhat forced feeling 'backstage banter' as theactors prepare for, or finish their readings feels a bit distractingfrom the more powerful simple, straightforward readings. But these areminor flaws in an affecting, effective documentary and educationaltool.
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