Analysis Of The Film ' Sankofa '

The movie Sankofa, directed by Haile Germina, is a movie the follows the story of Mona, who's a model on a photo shoot for a white photographer, in a castle in Ghana, where apparently she doesn't know the sad historic weigh the place carries of her ancestors. While in her photo shoot she is told by a mysterious musician, to go back to her roots, something that seemed to had confused her. Later on while in the castle ruins she is transported to the past where she lives the life of a slave named Shola, who was abused by her owner and later on fights and rebels against her masters together with Shango, her love interest, and other slaves, like Nunu, who's son was of mixed race and converted to Christianity, raised by one of the white men and turned against his own people. After the rebellion Mona returns to the present and with a better understanding of her roots and the suffering of her descendants.

The story begins with a recounting of the story of Tatica, Reyita’s grandmother, and her trial of being abducted from her native Africa and brought to Cuba to be sold into slavery. Tatica’s story sets a precedent that is upheld by the next generations of her family of racial discrimination, struggle for survival and equality, and political activism. Reyita explains that her grandmother’s love of Africa instilled in Reyita a

Films are created for many reasons. Some of these include to entertain, inform, and raise awareness. Whilst the film ‘Kokoda’ is entertaining, it also has some value as a historical source. However, its information is limited and some aspects of the battle are not portrayed. The battle conditions for Australian soldiers in Papua New Guinea is presented in an informative way in the movie yet it does not cover the conditions the Japanese soldiers had to face as well. The portrayal of the conditions for the 39th battalion full of Australians is depicted effectively in the film through scenes that emphasise the struggle and difficulties the soldiers faced due to them. We can see the tough terrain in many scenes in the movie such as when the

Although Nair made use of this interracial archetype, the talented director was, nevertheless, able to humanize Meena and Demetrius’s love throughout the life of the film which should unequivocally be one of the seven wonders of the world. Plus, she was able to manage a multitude of subplots—hypocrisy in interracial interactions such as when Jammubhai slyly suggests to Demetrius that “all us people of color must stick together”—without taking focus away from the overlying message which takes serious prowess and skill

*Throughout the film DuVernay maps the journey of African Americans as they endured slavery, segregation, then integration, and finally societal oppression; how they went from slavery to mass incarceration.

In his 1993 independent film Sankofa, Haile Gerima worked to dispel Hollywood’s negative stereotypes and interpretations of the “black experience.” Gerima’s consciousness of American race divide and prejudice helped him create some of the themes in Sankofa, the biggest being African American’s self-identity. Gerima saw that in the United States, a person’s place in society was based on the color of his or her skin, thus creating a negative relationship between African American’s and their identities. Gerima explores the theme of black self-identity in Sankofa through three characters, Mona, Nunu, and Joe, using each one to show how the different levels of awareness of African culture can affect a person’s life.

Sankofa, according to Africa folklore was the protector of the African American people. He used his drums to combat the evil spirits present among the world. The movie Sankofa portrays slavery in Lafayette with some of the most gruesome and shocking moments I have ever laid eyes on. During this movie there are many other subplots that occur but the ultimate goal for the slaves in Lafayette is a better life. A life not directed by a White Slave-owner. They sought and enacted ways that they could achieve one goal: freedom.

The movie “Sankofa” was a very interesting film. I learned many important things that happened to African American people back in the days. Some part of the film shook me because of how the way they were treated. As the movie continued, I realized that white men treated Africans like they were not human. They named all Africans as the term “Negroes”. They chained Africans, beat them, and raped them. The part where this pregnant lady got caught and got sent back was the most horrifying scene. My heart was throbbing when the man took the first whip. Tears were tumbling down my cheeks when listening to the man count in terror while whipping the pregnant woman. Another scene that I find frighten and emotional is when the Africans got their hands and feet chained, then got dragged

Mona in the Promised Land tells the story of Mona Chang, a Chinese American girl living in Scarshill, as she advances through her adolescent years in her multicultural community. As a Chinese American, Mona is reminded of her Chinese heritage through her parents who reference life back in Shanghai. Even though her mother tells her that she raised Mona in a relaxed American manner, Mona believes that her mother is too overbearing and exhibits qualities of a backward mother bringing up her child in China. Because she is growing up in America, Mona believes that “being American is being what you want”, meaning that she should be allowed to choose her own identity. It is because of this desire to discover her own identity that leads Mona to take

When slavery in the United States ends, it should lead opportunity for people who still wanted to profit off free labor. The problem of this movie shows the alarm that racism has not ended within the justice system. The shameful act of America had led an opening to the 13th Amendment that they can still make people into slavery if they were conflicted as a criminal.

To express a narrative based in New World enslavement, the film Sankofa (Gerima, 1994), works to use both historic and culturally embodied experiences to advance questions of race, notions of selfhood, and political value, through the ideology of Sankofa. Sankofa is an Adinka term from the Ghanaian Twi language, ideologically meaning that people of African descent must “go back and get it,” with “it” referring to an essential Afrocentricity necessary to achieve racial, social, and personal, wholeness. Expressed visually and symbolically, the term employs a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward. The bird holds an egg, symbolizing the future, in its mouth, as it looks to its past. The film, Sankofa, uses this imagery to build a narrative binding present and past, to generate a culturally intense experience that is personally specific.

The movie starts off with Mercedes at her workplace. She is having an argument with her boss about what she should be researching. She wants to learn about the history of black woman in Cuba. Her boss thinks she is wasting her time and thinks she should focus on more relevant subjects. As she goes through her daily routine, she cannot stop thinking about her family history with the photos and newspaper clippings she had looked over. With her mother’s and grandmother’s help, she gains more knowledge of her great grandparents, Jose Julian and Maria Victoria. She is so intrigued, she dreams vivid and informative details of Jose and Maria. Jose Julian was an activist and member of the Independent party of color that fought for equality. In her dream, she sees the struggles he faced to tend to his beloved wife, and focus on the very important conflict at hand, gaining equality for Black Cubans. Mercedes dreams of their amazingly intense but brief love for one another. He loves her but has to leave her to go to Orientes, where the protest is being held. Suddenly, Mercedes dreams of the horrific massacre that takes place which kills Jose Julian, the leaders of Independent party of color, and thousands of black Cubans. She wakes up from her dream and tries to explain it to her mother, but real life gets in the way, as her boyfriend Armando knocks on the door and sweeps Mercedes off her

Viewers follow the story of Lucia who migrates to a small town in Spain and a few immigrants who are from Africa, typically from Morocco, and their everyday struggle. Looking closely at the film there are various scenes where it is evident of the mistreatment that the immigrants face. Viewers become aware that because the workers are not documented they are taken advantage of and work in poor conditions. Workers are not paid overtime, do not have job security, and are mistreated at any given moment.

The film interprets historical

The film Paradise Now tells the story of Khaled and Said, two Palestinian young men who are recruited for suicide bombing missions in Israel. The two men live rather mediocre, uneventful lives until they are “hand picked” for the attack. The film goes on to tell an insightful story that humanizes the young would-be terrorists instead of vilifying them; expressing a point of view of the Palestine-Israel that is rarely exposed.