Goodbye Uncle Tom is a downright jaw-dropping and surprisingly professional production in the Mondo Cane series. Terrifically shot documentary-style, this film explores the interaction between the races in modern America. Slavery, Black Rage, White Oppression...Jacopetti and Prosperi are all showing it uncensored and without mercy. It's repulsive, shocking and the violence subtly get more under your skin as opposed to the average teenage horror slasher. The inhumanity of previous generations makes you bow your head in shame. Guided by a thrilling Riz Ortolani score (perhaps known best for his Cannibal Holocaust music) Goodbye Uncle Tom shows how black people are being exploited, raped and killed for no reason other than being "inferior". The films opens with a truly atmospheric portrait of how Martin Luther King's death mobilized the black community. Right from that moment, you just know that you're about to see a film that is a lot more intelligent than it seems and ahead of its time when it comes to being provocative. A history lesson that sticks to you! Of course, because of its realism, it cannot be recommended to everyone. Goodbye Uncle Tom is better not watched by the faint-hearted. Highly recommended piece of revolutionary cinema!
42 Reviews
Makes "The Passion of The Christ" seem like Romper Room
Reggie_Charan11 July 2004
Anyone thinking of checking this film out: be warned, words can not express what an awesomely brutal experience it is to sit through. I'm a big fan of horror films, but nothing I ever saw came close to the feeling of revulsion this 30 plus year old film gave me. Trust me, you will have to use the fast forward button on your remote control several times sitting through this one.
A group of Italian journalists goes back in time to America during the time of slavery and documents what they see. The viewer is spared no amount of detail as we are shown what it was like to travel aboard a slave ship, be sold in market as common livestock, be raped, tortured hunted and killed, and basically denied even the slightest bit of human empathy or compassion at every turn.
While Roots covered the same subject matter a whole lot better, it came nowhere near delivering the visceral reaction of this film. For that reason, I recommend people watch Goodbye Uncle Tom. While by no means a great film, if society is truly never to forget the injustices and wrongs of the past, work like this is necessary viewing.
A group of Italian journalists goes back in time to America during the time of slavery and documents what they see. The viewer is spared no amount of detail as we are shown what it was like to travel aboard a slave ship, be sold in market as common livestock, be raped, tortured hunted and killed, and basically denied even the slightest bit of human empathy or compassion at every turn.
While Roots covered the same subject matter a whole lot better, it came nowhere near delivering the visceral reaction of this film. For that reason, I recommend people watch Goodbye Uncle Tom. While by no means a great film, if society is truly never to forget the injustices and wrongs of the past, work like this is necessary viewing.
Tasteless, Offensive, Unpleasant, Unforgettable.
JMconnell16 July 2013
I've seen a lot of offensive films in my time, from Cannibal Holocaust to A Siberian Film, but this one is easily the most tasteless, offensive, unpleasant films I have ever seen. Yet somehow it is also riveting, like watching a car crash unfold in slow motion. Several times I was on the verge of turning it off in sheer disgust, but found myself holding off, just to see how much more depraved it could get.
The "plot", such as it is, concerns a pair of time-travelling reporters from Italy going back to the south of the USA during the heyday of slavery, to conduct a "inquest" into slavery. Presenting itself as a condemnation of slavery, it instead revels in the unpleasantness, delivering atrocity upon atrocity with a smirk on it's face. The horror inflicted on the slaves in Django Unchained pales in comparison to the never-ending parade of unpleasantries served up here. I suppose it does present a view of what slaves went through at the time, but it's hard to feel that they are condemning the acts when all the slaves are presented as little more than dumb animals.
Amongst the dubious "delights" on offer are rape, castration, paedophilia and the truly horrible scene where the poor reporter is "seduced" by a 13 year old black prostitute. It's made so much worse as everything is presented as though we are seeing it through their eyes.
It's certainly unforgettable, and if you're not easily offended or squeamish, it's worth watching once, even if it's just to see how low Italian exploitation cinema managed to stoop. You might need a good shower afterwards, however.
Rating: 7/10 just for the sheer gall of the film.
The "plot", such as it is, concerns a pair of time-travelling reporters from Italy going back to the south of the USA during the heyday of slavery, to conduct a "inquest" into slavery. Presenting itself as a condemnation of slavery, it instead revels in the unpleasantness, delivering atrocity upon atrocity with a smirk on it's face. The horror inflicted on the slaves in Django Unchained pales in comparison to the never-ending parade of unpleasantries served up here. I suppose it does present a view of what slaves went through at the time, but it's hard to feel that they are condemning the acts when all the slaves are presented as little more than dumb animals.
Amongst the dubious "delights" on offer are rape, castration, paedophilia and the truly horrible scene where the poor reporter is "seduced" by a 13 year old black prostitute. It's made so much worse as everything is presented as though we are seeing it through their eyes.
It's certainly unforgettable, and if you're not easily offended or squeamish, it's worth watching once, even if it's just to see how low Italian exploitation cinema managed to stoop. You might need a good shower afterwards, however.
Rating: 7/10 just for the sheer gall of the film.
Misunderstood Humanitarian Masterpiece
flickhead30 July 2003
Many people who have claimed to see this film have not. Most of those who have seen it, have not understood. GOODBYE UNCLE TOM was directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco E. Prosperi, the two men who pioneered the documentary movement that came to be known as the "Mondo" film, a term the two dislike immensely. Hot on the heels of their controversial and still-relevant AFRICA ADDIO, it was meant to exonerate them from accusations of racism. Ironically, it would do the exact opposite. It was developed as an idea to adapt the novel "Mandingo" as an historical, documentary style drama. What emerged was a shocking, difficult-to-watch-at-times, treatise on the horrors of slavery, and the source of racism in America, if not the world, today. It was the filmmakers' intention not to pander to a politically correct theory that slaves of the 1840's had a 1970's awareness of their situation. The events are all historically correct. Many of the characters are people who actually lived. The dialogue is verbatim from true manuscripts of the day. The racism is a genuine depiction of plantation life of the day. It was felt that glossing over the African experience in America would be an insult to the pain and suffering of the millions who survived the "middle passage' only to welcome a life a slavery, no different from an animal or piece of property.
Years after it's initial release, the directors have expressed a regret at not opening the film with an explanation stating that this was a film about the emotions of that bygone era, not of the filmmakers themselves.
The controversial final scenes, which take place in contemporary America, are based on "The Confessions of Nat Turner", and are meant to represent an angry, reactionary vengeance on behalf of the millions, with whom the character identifies. Malice for sure, but not unmerited malice. This film should cause strong emotions. Any film that tackles a moral issue must cause debate and conjecture if it is to succeed. What makes the film even more extraordinary is that it succeeds without claiming a moral superiority, or taking a moral stance. What appears on screen are the most graphic, realistic depictions of the North American slave trade of the 19th century, and this film should be required viewing in Black History classes on college campuses, and high schools all over the world, particularly in America. This film preceded ROOTS by six years and stands as a much harsher indictment of the evils of human bondage. This is one of the bravest works of cinema and remains a misunderstood humanitarian masterpiece.
Years after it's initial release, the directors have expressed a regret at not opening the film with an explanation stating that this was a film about the emotions of that bygone era, not of the filmmakers themselves.
The controversial final scenes, which take place in contemporary America, are based on "The Confessions of Nat Turner", and are meant to represent an angry, reactionary vengeance on behalf of the millions, with whom the character identifies. Malice for sure, but not unmerited malice. This film should cause strong emotions. Any film that tackles a moral issue must cause debate and conjecture if it is to succeed. What makes the film even more extraordinary is that it succeeds without claiming a moral superiority, or taking a moral stance. What appears on screen are the most graphic, realistic depictions of the North American slave trade of the 19th century, and this film should be required viewing in Black History classes on college campuses, and high schools all over the world, particularly in America. This film preceded ROOTS by six years and stands as a much harsher indictment of the evils of human bondage. This is one of the bravest works of cinema and remains a misunderstood humanitarian masterpiece.
Italian Roots
juliankennedy2319 February 2005
Addio Zio Tom: 7/10: Well they don't make them like this anymore and lets face it they never really did. This is really three separate films brought together in a blender set on random. The first film is a highly effective expose on slave treatment and the slave trade in the old south (the slave ship scenes blows Hollywood fare like Armistad out of the water). Using a cast of thousands and exposing practices such as selective breeding that are politely not discussed on American shores (just ask Jimmy the Greek) it simply is one of the most realistic display's of 18th and 19th century slave life ever shown on film.
Then there is a second film which is a dated, and looking back rather silly collection, of news footage from the late sixties and early seventies that documents race riots with all the participants speaking in Italian creating an almost Woody Allen feel to the dub (It gives What's up Tiger Lilly a run for its money complete with ragtime music cementing the silliness of what should be serious proceedings.)
The last movie is a sexploitation film dealing largely with Mandingo fantasies and containing a copious amount of child porn. (I guess National Geographic rules apply when showing thirteen year old black children naked). Needless to say tasteful does not enter into the conversation. Political correctness is shattered so badly one must feel for those sensitive souls that can't laugh at ridiculousness of the manipulation.
Making matters worse the three films are intertwined together seemingly at random with comic buffoonery breaking out during serious scenes (A slave auction is apt to turn into a Benny Hill episode for no apparent reason) and poorly done black revenge fantasies coming, narratively at least, out of nowhere. Anti-white, anti-black and for the sake of inclusion anti-Semitic they once again simply don't make them like this anymore. (It's highly illegal for one thing)
Overlong by at least an hour and very poorly thought out in places Addio Zio Tom wears out its welcome but for a short while at least it exposes the truth and makes one think.
Then there is a second film which is a dated, and looking back rather silly collection, of news footage from the late sixties and early seventies that documents race riots with all the participants speaking in Italian creating an almost Woody Allen feel to the dub (It gives What's up Tiger Lilly a run for its money complete with ragtime music cementing the silliness of what should be serious proceedings.)
The last movie is a sexploitation film dealing largely with Mandingo fantasies and containing a copious amount of child porn. (I guess National Geographic rules apply when showing thirteen year old black children naked). Needless to say tasteful does not enter into the conversation. Political correctness is shattered so badly one must feel for those sensitive souls that can't laugh at ridiculousness of the manipulation.
Making matters worse the three films are intertwined together seemingly at random with comic buffoonery breaking out during serious scenes (A slave auction is apt to turn into a Benny Hill episode for no apparent reason) and poorly done black revenge fantasies coming, narratively at least, out of nowhere. Anti-white, anti-black and for the sake of inclusion anti-Semitic they once again simply don't make them like this anymore. (It's highly illegal for one thing)
Overlong by at least an hour and very poorly thought out in places Addio Zio Tom wears out its welcome but for a short while at least it exposes the truth and makes one think.
Probably closer to the truth than any other film about slavery, ever..
reelblack11 January 2004
When I first saw GOODBYE UNCLE TOM several years ago on a muddy bootleg, the level of production value that went into this "shockumentary" impressed me. I was amazed that the filmmakers were able to corral literally hundreds of Black people into degrading and de-humanizing reenactments of various aspects of slavery. But I also understood that this was a very special film for that exact reason. Unlike American films about slavery, it makes no effort to excuse or sugarcoat this heinous act. Like the opening of Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou, the filmmakers intent is to force you to open your eyes to the truthful horrors of this 400 year old practice.
The premise of the film is brilliant--an Italian documentary film crew is transported "back in time" to interview and bear witness to American Slavery on all levels--from rich slave owners, to the "veterinarian" who must clean and delouse the slaves, to the poor whites who don't own slaves but invade their quarters for the purposes of rape this movie holds nothing back, etc. It loses points for some gratuitous nudity and violence (Mandingo, anyone?), and it's contemporary ending (which tries to connect the Black Power movement and the Nat Turner 1831 slave revolt) is somewhat muddled and clearly designed to leave viewers terrified. The concept that Black men still hate white people but crave their women but would prefer to kill them rather than make love to them is an idea better tackled in the film version of Baraka's DUTCHMAN. If the film were made a few years later it might end by raising the question of whether or not Black are still enslaved--not by carnal lust, but in a prison of the mind.
But the recent DVD release of this film (and its Director's Cut) brings to light two things the shoddy bootlegs didn't. (1) Unlike typical grindhouse exploitation, this is first and foremost a work of art--the opening shot, taken from a helicopter flying over a plantation over a field of slaves, then drawing low enough to blow away the bales of cotton and causing the slaves to flee in glee is GENIUS. Every image and idea is incredibly thought out. The score is up there with the best of Morricone and Rota . The photography and widescreen compositions are top-notch.
However, it is unsettling to discover (2), most of the film was shot in Haiti with the full cooperation of mercenary dictator "Papa Doc" Duvaluier and the Tontons Macoutes (who probably had no problem getting hundreds of Hatian natives willing to degrade and dehumanize themselves for the purpose of making a film). ). In the end, this is a painful film to watch on many levels, but deserves to be seen alongside Alex Haley's ROOTS. 8.5/10 Stars.
The premise of the film is brilliant--an Italian documentary film crew is transported "back in time" to interview and bear witness to American Slavery on all levels--from rich slave owners, to the "veterinarian" who must clean and delouse the slaves, to the poor whites who don't own slaves but invade their quarters for the purposes of rape this movie holds nothing back, etc. It loses points for some gratuitous nudity and violence (Mandingo, anyone?), and it's contemporary ending (which tries to connect the Black Power movement and the Nat Turner 1831 slave revolt) is somewhat muddled and clearly designed to leave viewers terrified. The concept that Black men still hate white people but crave their women but would prefer to kill them rather than make love to them is an idea better tackled in the film version of Baraka's DUTCHMAN. If the film were made a few years later it might end by raising the question of whether or not Black are still enslaved--not by carnal lust, but in a prison of the mind.
But the recent DVD release of this film (and its Director's Cut) brings to light two things the shoddy bootlegs didn't. (1) Unlike typical grindhouse exploitation, this is first and foremost a work of art--the opening shot, taken from a helicopter flying over a plantation over a field of slaves, then drawing low enough to blow away the bales of cotton and causing the slaves to flee in glee is GENIUS. Every image and idea is incredibly thought out. The score is up there with the best of Morricone and Rota . The photography and widescreen compositions are top-notch.
However, it is unsettling to discover (2), most of the film was shot in Haiti with the full cooperation of mercenary dictator "Papa Doc" Duvaluier and the Tontons Macoutes (who probably had no problem getting hundreds of Hatian natives willing to degrade and dehumanize themselves for the purpose of making a film). ). In the end, this is a painful film to watch on many levels, but deserves to be seen alongside Alex Haley's ROOTS. 8.5/10 Stars.
powerful, sometimes shocking
tbyrne423 January 2006
Not exactly a "humanitarian masterpiece" as someone else said (yeah right!). More like cryptic super-exploitation. This is wildly, hilariously, rollickingly misguided pseudo-history at best. Outright race-baiting at worst. Made by the sleazoids who barfed up "Africa Addios" (giving Africans their own country back so soon just wasn't the right idea, was it!!), a film that featured the genuinely bizarre white South African girls on trampolines montage. A fervent call-to-arms for African-Americans made by white Europeans must inherently ring false, I am afraid. (we enslaved you. kill us!) Manages to be both numbing and completely, hideously insulting at the same time.
The film is, under its very "SO racist it isn't being racist" exterior a sly work of racism. Presents blacks as nothing more than animals and savages, capable only of violence or submission to the will of whites. All the while remaining mute and mindless. No African-American in the film is presented as having a personality, substance, or intelligence. Every white all but glows. Every caucasian is a verbose, mercurial, immaculate sprite.
That said, the film does (I would assume) approximate the way Africans were treated during the slave era more closely than other films. In that respect it deserves respect. The conditions are shown as filthy, disgusting, cruel. Every imaginable indignity is portrayed (and some you probably could not imagine).
However, the film does have some power. The camera work is very inventive and the directors handle some of the chaotic scenes around the plantation very well. Some of the imagery is genuinely striking. There's a general feeling of chaos that comes through that's very effective. I'm not sure what the point is. But it's effective.
Anyway, see the movie if you really want to be grossed out and insulted. File this one under SUPER exploitation. The directors may have had good intentions when they started out, but I think they just lost it when they got onto the set and decided to see how far out they could go. And no one, it seemed, was around to tell them to tone it down or put on the breaks. This is up there with Cannibal Holocaust and Men Behind the Sun. It's that sort of a deal.
But don't kid yourselves, this AIN'T no humanitarian masterpiece.
The film is, under its very "SO racist it isn't being racist" exterior a sly work of racism. Presents blacks as nothing more than animals and savages, capable only of violence or submission to the will of whites. All the while remaining mute and mindless. No African-American in the film is presented as having a personality, substance, or intelligence. Every white all but glows. Every caucasian is a verbose, mercurial, immaculate sprite.
That said, the film does (I would assume) approximate the way Africans were treated during the slave era more closely than other films. In that respect it deserves respect. The conditions are shown as filthy, disgusting, cruel. Every imaginable indignity is portrayed (and some you probably could not imagine).
However, the film does have some power. The camera work is very inventive and the directors handle some of the chaotic scenes around the plantation very well. Some of the imagery is genuinely striking. There's a general feeling of chaos that comes through that's very effective. I'm not sure what the point is. But it's effective.
Anyway, see the movie if you really want to be grossed out and insulted. File this one under SUPER exploitation. The directors may have had good intentions when they started out, but I think they just lost it when they got onto the set and decided to see how far out they could go. And no one, it seemed, was around to tell them to tone it down or put on the breaks. This is up there with Cannibal Holocaust and Men Behind the Sun. It's that sort of a deal.
But don't kid yourselves, this AIN'T no humanitarian masterpiece.
Very tough to watch no matter your race.
dfranzen706 February 2019
Horrific movie, perhaps one of the more realistic depictions of slavery in the US. Very tough to watch no matter your race. Graphic, although I didn't even watch the original, unexpurgated version. Seems a little exploitative at times, since real slavery conditions were being recreated by a largely Black cast. Sometimes that's what you have to do, I guess; show the horror so that people understand the horror.
Gobsmacking!
jaibo17 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In Goodbye Uncle Tom, two documentarists "travel" to the old American South and explore the slave economy. This world is recreated in all of its brutal and corrosive details, from the shipping to America of slaves in the hulls of ships - the sickening conditions with diarrhoea-ridden slaves chained in their own filth is emphasised - to the brothels where large Mammies coral underage girls for the delectation of white clients. The film is made on an enormous scale. The scenes in the slave markets and on the plantations have literally hundreds of extras, and the marshalling of crowds alone makes the film an exceptional achievement. This is no low-budget cheap-flick but a full, cinemascope extravaganza featuring vast hordes of extras, sweeping crane shots and unfeasibly intricate dolly shots which travel through large sets and teaming crowds, a swarming mass of human flesh, the sheer scale of which leaves one's mouth dropped open in wonder. That wonder is turned into awed disbelief as the brutal, nerve-wrecking content of the film unfolds before one's eyes. This is Gone With The Wind mixed with a supersized portion of Salo.
The film is completely plot less. It features a series of set-pieces - all based on research into actual conditions, events and personages - each of which show an aspect of the slave trade. A bustling church has a preaching pro-slavery Pastor presiding over the gelding of African bucks. A mansion is filled to the brim with dozens of slaves, making beds, cooking dinner and helping Missies to dress. A group of nasty-looking rednecks roam a swamp, massacring escaped "merchandise." The scenes get nastier as the film progresses - which seems to be the only logic to the film's progression. There is a particularly insane sequence in which a "veterinary" tells us of his work on the slaves, a sequence redolent of Mengele and the atrocities of the Nazis (the ludicrous German accent this character is given encourages us to make this leap). The final old Southern section of the film concerns a young virgin girl taken to a "breeding farm" and mated by with a nasty, violent old buck stud - the fat "farmer" pontificates merrily about stock as the victim is led to an event which is destined to rip her sexual organs to shreds What is especially freakish about the film is its overwhelming prurience. The camera lingers over the naked male and female bodies of the slaves, and revels in their degradation. This creates a profoundly uneasy feeling in the viewer. It is not merely that this film offers an indictment of an economy in which human flesh became literally a commodity, backed up with the most noxious racial supremacism, but that it dwells so excessively on the minutiae of humiliation and hatred. It almost wills itself to become a repellent and fascinating object - which one could argue is the more honest attitude to take towards human evil. It is as if Goodbye Uncle Tom were the vomit of history flung in the face of the audience, and the audience were being tempted to dance in it a little, as well as vomit over themselves.
The end of the film - and it is a long (123 minute) film - is as extraordinary and thoroughly reprehensible as the rest. We suddenly cut to then contemporary America, and watch a black preacher/panther walking along a Florida beach, watching the frolicking wealthy whities at play. He reads The Confessions of Nat Turner - a true-life account of a slave who massacred a number of slaver families in 1831 - and fantasises about killing the honkies around him. Those fantasies are shown to us by the filmmakers in lurid detail, and whitebread families get axes in their heads, knives in their stomachs and their babies battered against walls. This is an incendiary sequence, and must have been particularly shocking in 1971.
It is very difficult to know what to make of Goodbye Uncle Tom. On the one hand, its lurid exploitative nature is enough to repel even the most hardened of extreme cinema enthusiasts. What is more, the economics and morality of the film's actual making is enough to send one reeling in horror in and of themselves. It was filmed in Haiti, and a thank you appears on the credits to Papa Doc. It is doubtful any of the thoroughly degraded extras were paid very much for their work, which suggests that the film is itself a product of a coercive and slave-driving economic system; and let's not forget, Haiti was a former slave colony. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine a film which did more to make the realities of the slave-based economic system more palpable and horrifying. In refusing the audience the comforting delights of character individuation, journeys, change and anything other than economic/racial relationships, the film does constitute an effective dramaturgy for dealing with such an unmitigatingly inhuman episode in human history. In a way, a film like Amistad makes it all alright that slavery happened, because the liberal humanist Spielberg pulls out the trump card of the dignity of the human spirit, the chance for which to triumph slavery (like the holocaust) happened to offer. There is absolutely no human dignity on show in Goodbye Uncle Tom. Slavery is not a business where dignity comes into the equation. One of the film's most intriguing characters in a slave who boasts of his price in the market, his value to his masters, and the healthcare and help in old age which a good master can provide for him. He is an embelmatic proletarian historical figure...
What is on show in Goodbye Uncle Tom is a dazzling display of film-making technique. From an editing, cinematographic and staging point of view, the film is a masterpiece.
The film is completely plot less. It features a series of set-pieces - all based on research into actual conditions, events and personages - each of which show an aspect of the slave trade. A bustling church has a preaching pro-slavery Pastor presiding over the gelding of African bucks. A mansion is filled to the brim with dozens of slaves, making beds, cooking dinner and helping Missies to dress. A group of nasty-looking rednecks roam a swamp, massacring escaped "merchandise." The scenes get nastier as the film progresses - which seems to be the only logic to the film's progression. There is a particularly insane sequence in which a "veterinary" tells us of his work on the slaves, a sequence redolent of Mengele and the atrocities of the Nazis (the ludicrous German accent this character is given encourages us to make this leap). The final old Southern section of the film concerns a young virgin girl taken to a "breeding farm" and mated by with a nasty, violent old buck stud - the fat "farmer" pontificates merrily about stock as the victim is led to an event which is destined to rip her sexual organs to shreds What is especially freakish about the film is its overwhelming prurience. The camera lingers over the naked male and female bodies of the slaves, and revels in their degradation. This creates a profoundly uneasy feeling in the viewer. It is not merely that this film offers an indictment of an economy in which human flesh became literally a commodity, backed up with the most noxious racial supremacism, but that it dwells so excessively on the minutiae of humiliation and hatred. It almost wills itself to become a repellent and fascinating object - which one could argue is the more honest attitude to take towards human evil. It is as if Goodbye Uncle Tom were the vomit of history flung in the face of the audience, and the audience were being tempted to dance in it a little, as well as vomit over themselves.
The end of the film - and it is a long (123 minute) film - is as extraordinary and thoroughly reprehensible as the rest. We suddenly cut to then contemporary America, and watch a black preacher/panther walking along a Florida beach, watching the frolicking wealthy whities at play. He reads The Confessions of Nat Turner - a true-life account of a slave who massacred a number of slaver families in 1831 - and fantasises about killing the honkies around him. Those fantasies are shown to us by the filmmakers in lurid detail, and whitebread families get axes in their heads, knives in their stomachs and their babies battered against walls. This is an incendiary sequence, and must have been particularly shocking in 1971.
It is very difficult to know what to make of Goodbye Uncle Tom. On the one hand, its lurid exploitative nature is enough to repel even the most hardened of extreme cinema enthusiasts. What is more, the economics and morality of the film's actual making is enough to send one reeling in horror in and of themselves. It was filmed in Haiti, and a thank you appears on the credits to Papa Doc. It is doubtful any of the thoroughly degraded extras were paid very much for their work, which suggests that the film is itself a product of a coercive and slave-driving economic system; and let's not forget, Haiti was a former slave colony. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine a film which did more to make the realities of the slave-based economic system more palpable and horrifying. In refusing the audience the comforting delights of character individuation, journeys, change and anything other than economic/racial relationships, the film does constitute an effective dramaturgy for dealing with such an unmitigatingly inhuman episode in human history. In a way, a film like Amistad makes it all alright that slavery happened, because the liberal humanist Spielberg pulls out the trump card of the dignity of the human spirit, the chance for which to triumph slavery (like the holocaust) happened to offer. There is absolutely no human dignity on show in Goodbye Uncle Tom. Slavery is not a business where dignity comes into the equation. One of the film's most intriguing characters in a slave who boasts of his price in the market, his value to his masters, and the healthcare and help in old age which a good master can provide for him. He is an embelmatic proletarian historical figure...
What is on show in Goodbye Uncle Tom is a dazzling display of film-making technique. From an editing, cinematographic and staging point of view, the film is a masterpiece.
If This Movie Offends You, You Need A History Lesson
catesa15 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I know there are a lot of people who absolutely loathe this film (granted, the thought of someone "loving" it is disturbing), but I think that anger is a little mis-directed. Should we be shocked and grossed out by it? Of course. But I don't think the point of "Goodbye Uncle Tom" is merely to make people queasy, as so many of these reviews suggest. One could certainly claim that this is nothing more than a smut film, but that's fairly reductionist considering how depraved American slavery actually was.
White Americans (particularly if you grew up in the south) have typically been taught a hyper-sanitized version of our slave-holding, racist history. Perhaps we find it offensive because we don't want to believe that it's accurate. No matter how cruel and disgusting it is, there is nothing shown in this movie that white Americans didn't actually do to black Americans (rape, brandings, castrations, torture, auctions, pseudo-scientific studies, etc) over and over for generations. These exact atrocities occurred in America for centuries. And as implied by all the smiling, sadistic slave owners and the happy-clappy score, very few white people thought there was anything wrong with it. It was accepted and encouraged. Of course we should be outraged, but how about at our ancestors rather than the guys that actually had the 'nads to show it?
My one real qualm with the film is that aside from the Nat Turner sequence at the end, there's very little representation of the resistance, resilience, and pride that so many African Americans maintained through these horrific years. The Kunta Kintes of the time are completely written out, although I recognize that including those stories might distract from the overall point of the film, which I assume is that the self-righteous, "Land of The Free" was actually a twisted, obscene hell hole for most of its existence. But Franco Prosperi also said in an interview that they wanted to show that "the black man was not aware of his situation. He had no sense of who and where he was," etc. They wanted to make a point of making the slaves look helpless and stupid, and it's not only inaccurate, it's lowkey racist.
I still recommend "Roots" for younger audiences, the squeamish, or if you're looking for the black side of the story. But if you can handle the on-screen degradation, the nudity, and the general nightmarish, hopeless state the film leaves you in, it is for my money the most accurate, most undiluted portrait of African-American slavery to ever have been made. But don't be mad at the film-makers. Be mad at the people whose acts inspired this movie.
P.S. I recommend the Italian version "Addio Zio Tom" over the American. It includes more about the civil rights movement and makes a little more sense (if you don't mind subtitles).
White Americans (particularly if you grew up in the south) have typically been taught a hyper-sanitized version of our slave-holding, racist history. Perhaps we find it offensive because we don't want to believe that it's accurate. No matter how cruel and disgusting it is, there is nothing shown in this movie that white Americans didn't actually do to black Americans (rape, brandings, castrations, torture, auctions, pseudo-scientific studies, etc) over and over for generations. These exact atrocities occurred in America for centuries. And as implied by all the smiling, sadistic slave owners and the happy-clappy score, very few white people thought there was anything wrong with it. It was accepted and encouraged. Of course we should be outraged, but how about at our ancestors rather than the guys that actually had the 'nads to show it?
My one real qualm with the film is that aside from the Nat Turner sequence at the end, there's very little representation of the resistance, resilience, and pride that so many African Americans maintained through these horrific years. The Kunta Kintes of the time are completely written out, although I recognize that including those stories might distract from the overall point of the film, which I assume is that the self-righteous, "Land of The Free" was actually a twisted, obscene hell hole for most of its existence. But Franco Prosperi also said in an interview that they wanted to show that "the black man was not aware of his situation. He had no sense of who and where he was," etc. They wanted to make a point of making the slaves look helpless and stupid, and it's not only inaccurate, it's lowkey racist.
I still recommend "Roots" for younger audiences, the squeamish, or if you're looking for the black side of the story. But if you can handle the on-screen degradation, the nudity, and the general nightmarish, hopeless state the film leaves you in, it is for my money the most accurate, most undiluted portrait of African-American slavery to ever have been made. But don't be mad at the film-makers. Be mad at the people whose acts inspired this movie.
P.S. I recommend the Italian version "Addio Zio Tom" over the American. It includes more about the civil rights movement and makes a little more sense (if you don't mind subtitles).
Crudely made and sick.
gridoon4 January 2002
Nine years before "Goodbye Uncle Tom", Jacopetti and Prosperi had made the original "shockumentary", "Mondo Cane". Their desire to shock came through in that film, along with a spirit to explore the bizarre, to show the unexpected, and to be as objective as possible. But this film seems to have a different approach, and a sick sensibility. They vicariously visit mid-19th-century America, but although they claim that the film is based in historically accurate facts, you can see (or guess) where they twist and cheapen them (showing black men dying in slow-motion, locking them up in cages while a mad scientist explains why they are an inferior race). The film is also crude and muddy, and things were made even worse by the extremely poor-quality print I saw (it was scratchy and parts of certain scenes seemed to be missing). For now, this gets a *1/2 rating. A better print may improve this....but not by much.
Either version is certain to provoke a strong reaction
dbborroughs25 October 2004
The story goes that when this played Times Square it caused a riot. I have no idea if its true or not, but if it did happen I can see why.
The film is an examination of race relations that focuses on slavery. As an indictment of the institution of slavery this film can not be topped. This is a nightmarish look at what slave mills must have been like almost 200 years ago.
The film exists in two versions that are very different different, and if you ever wanted to see how one film could end up as two different films, look no farther than this film (both versions are in the Mondo Cane box set)
Both films contain much of the same footage cut for different effect.The original Italian cut deals more heavily with race relations now, while the American version deals more with the slavery aspect. The final moments of both versions makes more sense in context of the Italian version since in the final moments we see that in many ways things have not gotten all that much better for the black race. Both films also have a good amount of footage unique to that version. I doubt seriously that the footage could be combined to make one super film since you'd end up with a third film with a third point of view.
I like both versions of the film. I think that right or wrong this is a film that will get you talking and thinking and wondering, which is what the film is suppose to do. I can't say that one is better than the other, both are flawed, however both should be seen, preferably with in a day or so of each other since the duel versions play off each other in unexpected ways.
See these films., But be prepared to get angry. You may not get through them, you may not like them, but you will be provoked into a reaction on some level. For better or worse you will be challenged and moved which is what the point of the film is.
9 out of 10.
The film is an examination of race relations that focuses on slavery. As an indictment of the institution of slavery this film can not be topped. This is a nightmarish look at what slave mills must have been like almost 200 years ago.
The film exists in two versions that are very different different, and if you ever wanted to see how one film could end up as two different films, look no farther than this film (both versions are in the Mondo Cane box set)
Both films contain much of the same footage cut for different effect.The original Italian cut deals more heavily with race relations now, while the American version deals more with the slavery aspect. The final moments of both versions makes more sense in context of the Italian version since in the final moments we see that in many ways things have not gotten all that much better for the black race. Both films also have a good amount of footage unique to that version. I doubt seriously that the footage could be combined to make one super film since you'd end up with a third film with a third point of view.
I like both versions of the film. I think that right or wrong this is a film that will get you talking and thinking and wondering, which is what the film is suppose to do. I can't say that one is better than the other, both are flawed, however both should be seen, preferably with in a day or so of each other since the duel versions play off each other in unexpected ways.
See these films., But be prepared to get angry. You may not get through them, you may not like them, but you will be provoked into a reaction on some level. For better or worse you will be challenged and moved which is what the point of the film is.
9 out of 10.
Vile racism masquerading as condemnation
Eli_Zardo12 July 2009
This film's raison d'etre is to display the denigration of Black people for entertainment. That's it, so stop making excuses.
The first 100 minutes or so are just an endless series of scenes where Blacks are humiliated. During many sequences it becomes impossible to think of the cast as anything other than people being manipulated by the filmmakers into degrading themselves.
The stunning aspect is that while an effort is made to expose the slave trade participants as beastly and ignorant through their actions there is no effort made at all to refute their stance or present any Black characters in a positive way. They are either savages, meek, accomplices or given no voice at all.
During much of it the incredibly insulting things the slave trade participants say about Blacks isn't even challenged. Now that could be taken as a style of 'indictment with their own words' but the filmmakers present it all in a way that visually seems to support what is said. Basically they cut from a white character saying Blacks are savages and then they show a scene of Blacks acting like savages!
Change a few lines of dialog and this grotesquerie would be perfect fodder for White supremacists. Even the last few minutes where a speechless Black guy in "modern" America reads from The Confessions of Nat Turner perpetuates negative violent/sexual stereotypes.
There is however one great scene... a gaggle of white wives discussing the reasons given to them by their husbands explaining why the female slaves keep having babies with paler skin or blond hair.
If you're a fan of exploitation of the truly lowest order this thing is a treasure trove, I would actually recommend it based on that criteria, it's genuinely outrageous, inept and shameless. Just don't fool yourself regarding what it's really doing or rationalize it.
The first 100 minutes or so are just an endless series of scenes where Blacks are humiliated. During many sequences it becomes impossible to think of the cast as anything other than people being manipulated by the filmmakers into degrading themselves.
The stunning aspect is that while an effort is made to expose the slave trade participants as beastly and ignorant through their actions there is no effort made at all to refute their stance or present any Black characters in a positive way. They are either savages, meek, accomplices or given no voice at all.
During much of it the incredibly insulting things the slave trade participants say about Blacks isn't even challenged. Now that could be taken as a style of 'indictment with their own words' but the filmmakers present it all in a way that visually seems to support what is said. Basically they cut from a white character saying Blacks are savages and then they show a scene of Blacks acting like savages!
Change a few lines of dialog and this grotesquerie would be perfect fodder for White supremacists. Even the last few minutes where a speechless Black guy in "modern" America reads from The Confessions of Nat Turner perpetuates negative violent/sexual stereotypes.
There is however one great scene... a gaggle of white wives discussing the reasons given to them by their husbands explaining why the female slaves keep having babies with paler skin or blond hair.
If you're a fan of exploitation of the truly lowest order this thing is a treasure trove, I would actually recommend it based on that criteria, it's genuinely outrageous, inept and shameless. Just don't fool yourself regarding what it's really doing or rationalize it.
WOW
squeezebox16 August 2004
MONDO CANE and AFRICA ADDIO creators Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco E. Prosperi take us on a journey through time, back to the mid 1800's, not too long before the civil war. The movie is styled like one of their previous documentaries, with actors talking to the camera as though being interviewed, and just about every form of human cruelty being enacted on the Africans who have been dragged overseas to become slaves.
The movie is certainly disturbing, and it did indeed enrage me that ancestors of mine took part in this treatment of fellow human beings. But the movie lost me whenever it tried to create a parallel between the climate between blacks and whites in the 1800s and the 1960s.
Not that there weren't (and, unfortunately, still are) problems with racial tension in this country, but the movie seems to think that the average black person is still a savage at heart, just waiting for the right moment to break out an axe and slaughter the first white person he comes across. The movie climaxes with a radical black man reading The Diary of Nat Turner and imagining doing just that, including a horrific moment in which he smashes a baby's head against the wall.
To me, the movie seems to have a negative opinion of just about everyone. Obviously, due to its decidedly anti-slavery stance, the slave traders are viewed as sick, inhuman monsters with only the faintest mask of civility on the surface. But the African characters are portrayed largely as ignorant buffoons, too dim-witted to understand what's happening to them.
Later, during the modern day scenes, the sole black character is shown as having a major chip on his shoulder that has driven him nearly insane with rage, while the white people are a bunch of care-free bubble heads. Such generalizations and lack of depth or character development greatly lessens the power the movie may have had.
But, as a purely gut-busting exercise in sleaze and disgusting imagery, GOODBYE UNCLE TOM sits confidently alongside other such gross-out movies as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, SALO and MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Also, like those movies, GUT (hmmm, interesting abbreviation) goes so outrageously over-the-top in depicting its atrocities, most of the movie's true power is lost, and it becomes little more than a freak show.
I hesitantly recommend the movie for fans of sick cinema as a curiosity. I warn pretty much everyone else to stay far, far away.
The movie is certainly disturbing, and it did indeed enrage me that ancestors of mine took part in this treatment of fellow human beings. But the movie lost me whenever it tried to create a parallel between the climate between blacks and whites in the 1800s and the 1960s.
Not that there weren't (and, unfortunately, still are) problems with racial tension in this country, but the movie seems to think that the average black person is still a savage at heart, just waiting for the right moment to break out an axe and slaughter the first white person he comes across. The movie climaxes with a radical black man reading The Diary of Nat Turner and imagining doing just that, including a horrific moment in which he smashes a baby's head against the wall.
To me, the movie seems to have a negative opinion of just about everyone. Obviously, due to its decidedly anti-slavery stance, the slave traders are viewed as sick, inhuman monsters with only the faintest mask of civility on the surface. But the African characters are portrayed largely as ignorant buffoons, too dim-witted to understand what's happening to them.
Later, during the modern day scenes, the sole black character is shown as having a major chip on his shoulder that has driven him nearly insane with rage, while the white people are a bunch of care-free bubble heads. Such generalizations and lack of depth or character development greatly lessens the power the movie may have had.
But, as a purely gut-busting exercise in sleaze and disgusting imagery, GOODBYE UNCLE TOM sits confidently alongside other such gross-out movies as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, SALO and MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Also, like those movies, GUT (hmmm, interesting abbreviation) goes so outrageously over-the-top in depicting its atrocities, most of the movie's true power is lost, and it becomes little more than a freak show.
I hesitantly recommend the movie for fans of sick cinema as a curiosity. I warn pretty much everyone else to stay far, far away.
How much raw is too much?
LakersP12172 June 2016
This film is raw, real, honest and scary. Films aren't made like this because it causes people to look deep within themselves and consider the part all have played in such a horrible event. Many don't want to look at events this morbid. Yet its truthful.
The film tells the truth, but I think it goes too far. The amount of gross nudity, and the enjoyment of such was just disturbing. While I know it may be the truth, a truth that does need to be addressed it is still very uncomfortable, and yet I think it is a discomfort that some people need to visit. For me I already knew these stories that covered slavery so I didn't necessarily need the added imagery. But still this film is a powerful telling of harsh truth.
I am polarized by how to score this film. disturbingly truthful and honest is all I can think of....
The film tells the truth, but I think it goes too far. The amount of gross nudity, and the enjoyment of such was just disturbing. While I know it may be the truth, a truth that does need to be addressed it is still very uncomfortable, and yet I think it is a discomfort that some people need to visit. For me I already knew these stories that covered slavery so I didn't necessarily need the added imagery. But still this film is a powerful telling of harsh truth.
I am polarized by how to score this film. disturbingly truthful and honest is all I can think of....
What's amazing is that this movie was even made
imbluzclooby27 November 2011
I can't believe I actually watched this entire movie. After having seen the ambitious yet controversial Africa Addio, I had a morbid interest in seeing this gem. WOW! There are too many words I can use to describe this brave and wanton achievement. Goodbye Uncle Tom is a historical tour de force that is offensive, shocking, bizarre, seditious, realistic, hilarious, outrageous and brilliant. All of this is achieved in a campy and carnival style of representation. Blaxploitation had hit the theaters at this time, but Jacopetti and Prosperi are truly due credit for bringing so much more depth to this genre than any other B-movie hack in history.
Goodbye Uncle Tom Begins as a journey through early 19th century America during the height of the slave trades. The purpose is to glean as much information into the realities and issues revolving around slavery in a pseudo documentary format. It's a very ingenious idea and far exceeds the bland dramas like Amistad and Roots. So the film makers are traveling in time as the actors of that colonial era interact with each other for the camera. You will see and witness the opinions of historical figures as they give their views on slavery while interacting and subjugating the black slaves. It's easy to be disturbed by this film due to its brutally realistic portrayal of slavery and torture. I often wondered if this was meant for satire or indictment. It gets confusing, because with all of the sickness going on you can't help but laugh at the unabashed racial epithets. Is this meant to provoke laughter, shock? I think Jacopetti and Prosperi are combining elements of hyperbole, shock, brutality and tragedy in order to paint a grim picture.
The film entails a stark contrast between whites and blacks. The people who were directly involved with the blacks were the oppressive, mean and callous slave traders and slave owners. Then we have the aristocrats who are completely detached from all this madness as they gallivant about in their beautiful Victorian attire looking pristine, beautiful and noble. They clearly illustrate the dichotomy between the civilized whites and the abject nature of the Negro slaves.
Does all of this seem real? In an odd way it does. It looks very realistic despite its campy delivery. But Goodbye Uncle Tom is not only an indictment of slavery, its also an indictment of integration. These arguments are presented a couple times throughout the movie. One aristocrat mentioned, "I have no desire for the institution of slavery. I got rid of my slaves. They were foul, stinky and bothersome. So I set them free. I believe in freedom, but I don't believe in equality." This is a statement that sets the tone and resonates throughout the film as we are constantly questioning the purpose of importing slaves.
Some detractors of this film dislike it for shallow and ad hominem reasons. They get offended by the content and its provocative delivery. These people fail to understand the message here. You cannot take such a controversial issue without offending someone. People are going to be shocked. 19th century America was hardly benevolent and this movie doesn't have to sugarcoat it's grisly reality. So deal with it and judge afterward.
There is no way a movie like this could ever be made today and shown to the public. As we live in a world where political correctness corrupts our natural instincts and judgement, Goodbye Uncle Tom supersedes those constraints. This is why it is such a rare cinematic gem. If you can deal with all the scurrility, violence and grotesque imagery, goodbye Uncle Tom is a must see.
Goodbye Uncle Tom Begins as a journey through early 19th century America during the height of the slave trades. The purpose is to glean as much information into the realities and issues revolving around slavery in a pseudo documentary format. It's a very ingenious idea and far exceeds the bland dramas like Amistad and Roots. So the film makers are traveling in time as the actors of that colonial era interact with each other for the camera. You will see and witness the opinions of historical figures as they give their views on slavery while interacting and subjugating the black slaves. It's easy to be disturbed by this film due to its brutally realistic portrayal of slavery and torture. I often wondered if this was meant for satire or indictment. It gets confusing, because with all of the sickness going on you can't help but laugh at the unabashed racial epithets. Is this meant to provoke laughter, shock? I think Jacopetti and Prosperi are combining elements of hyperbole, shock, brutality and tragedy in order to paint a grim picture.
The film entails a stark contrast between whites and blacks. The people who were directly involved with the blacks were the oppressive, mean and callous slave traders and slave owners. Then we have the aristocrats who are completely detached from all this madness as they gallivant about in their beautiful Victorian attire looking pristine, beautiful and noble. They clearly illustrate the dichotomy between the civilized whites and the abject nature of the Negro slaves.
Does all of this seem real? In an odd way it does. It looks very realistic despite its campy delivery. But Goodbye Uncle Tom is not only an indictment of slavery, its also an indictment of integration. These arguments are presented a couple times throughout the movie. One aristocrat mentioned, "I have no desire for the institution of slavery. I got rid of my slaves. They were foul, stinky and bothersome. So I set them free. I believe in freedom, but I don't believe in equality." This is a statement that sets the tone and resonates throughout the film as we are constantly questioning the purpose of importing slaves.
Some detractors of this film dislike it for shallow and ad hominem reasons. They get offended by the content and its provocative delivery. These people fail to understand the message here. You cannot take such a controversial issue without offending someone. People are going to be shocked. 19th century America was hardly benevolent and this movie doesn't have to sugarcoat it's grisly reality. So deal with it and judge afterward.
There is no way a movie like this could ever be made today and shown to the public. As we live in a world where political correctness corrupts our natural instincts and judgement, Goodbye Uncle Tom supersedes those constraints. This is why it is such a rare cinematic gem. If you can deal with all the scurrility, violence and grotesque imagery, goodbye Uncle Tom is a must see.
Hello Uncle Bomb
ptb-816 October 2011
I saw GOODBYE UNCLE TOM in a cinema in Sydney in 1972, and I would assess that if being released in 2011, it would not get a film classification today and be shelved or banned. The entire purpose of this fake documentary about back slavery in the 19th century in America, is simply to show as much cruelty towards Black men and women as possible. This is like XXX AMISTAD or ROOTS XXX but with extreme distressing gore and astonishing brutality. The two scenes that have stayed with me horribly for 40 years are of a baby being swung into a wall head first and its face smashed to bleeding pulp, and a row of black men having their front teeth knocked out with a chisel, one by one. These two scenes are two of many similar in a film that is a shopping list of cruel images thought up by the producers, not from any other source. So degrading and so bleak, this is a film that really ought to be destroyed. It serves no purpose other than depict bleeding crying distress meted out to young black people of varying ages.
VERY hard to watch...but watch you WILL
haildevilman3 May 2007
This is not real. But it was. That's the rub.
A chopper goes back in time to the slavery days of America. The pre Civil War years when blacks were basically livestock.
Slaves are bought, sold, traded, and given away as gifts. No concern for the families being broken up so callously. And the traders thought this was God's will. A preacher even affirms this.
They eat the back end of the crops. And if they refuse, they get force fed. These scenes are hard to watch because of the violence and the grossness. But it DID happen that way.
Of course you have your whipping scenes. Seems ordinary, but remember, the blacks weren't criminals. They were people like the rest of us. They did nothing to deserve their plight.
What shocked me was watching the owners grab body parts like they were looking for ripe veggies. And check their teeth and eyes like they were buying a race horse.
Shock-o-rama. And mostly because it's true.
A chopper goes back in time to the slavery days of America. The pre Civil War years when blacks were basically livestock.
Slaves are bought, sold, traded, and given away as gifts. No concern for the families being broken up so callously. And the traders thought this was God's will. A preacher even affirms this.
They eat the back end of the crops. And if they refuse, they get force fed. These scenes are hard to watch because of the violence and the grossness. But it DID happen that way.
Of course you have your whipping scenes. Seems ordinary, but remember, the blacks weren't criminals. They were people like the rest of us. They did nothing to deserve their plight.
What shocked me was watching the owners grab body parts like they were looking for ripe veggies. And check their teeth and eyes like they were buying a race horse.
Shock-o-rama. And mostly because it's true.
Sick and interesting, but also boring
RectalGORE8 March 2005
Goodbye Uncle Tom is one of the sickest films that can be seen. It's about the trade slavery in America and Europe in the previous centuries. Watching Goodbye Uncle Tom, I viewed some of the nastiest and most unbelievable scenes that can be seen. Seeing the white men abuses, rapes, humiliates and does everything that comes to his twisted mind was unbelievably shocking, however , the film was boring too and had some moments that made me feel like turning it off, but i didn't, i watched it all the way. The most shocking thing about this film was that all of this has actually happened! It seemed even sicker than those holocaust stories and movies, In those holocaust stories and movies the Jewish people were slaughtered, but they weren't treated like animals that are kept in cages just for profit like the black man were. This film actually shows how the white empires are disgustingly cruel and careless. I can only recommend it to people who like being shocked or like watching shocking historical facts that have happened in the "developing" countries by the "developed" countries. 5/10
Shockingly Authentic. Amistad was a joke.
moemitchell15 June 2000
Every American should see this movie to understand the horrors of slavery. It exposes the wicked nature of Europeans and the oppressive facets of Racism and Capitalism. This is what this country is built upon. Although some of although some of Jacopetti's works such as 'Adios Africa' are considered racist this film has a reverse effect. If we all were to watch this it would aid in exorcizing some demons that have lain dormant too long. It forces the viewer to look not only at the history of this world but the scary world we live in. Brilliant. NOT FOR THE WEAK AT HEART OR STOMACH!!
Definitely not for everyone.
sirveaux30 July 1999
This is the second most disgusting feature-length film I've ever seen. The first being that HK film about the Japanese experiments on Manchurian POW's whose name eludes me. This portrayal of the horrors of slavery is uncomfortably realistic. Forget Buttgereit and all those cats, this is the real stuff. It's incredibly offensive and bizarre beyond imagination, but oddly compelling.
Exceptional piece of staged "documentary" cinema
fertilecelluloid1 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is an extraordinary piece of documentary cinema that is as fresh and cutting edge today as it was when it was first released and universally crucified. Directors Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi, who also made the two "Mondo Cane" films and the equally extraordinary "Africa Adios", were true originals. The fact that their methods were so questionable is what made them unique. In this brilliant staged "documentary", the filmmakers travel back in time, via helicopter, to the "golden age" of Slavery in America's Deep South. They "interview" white slavers, depict the degradation and humiliation of the blacks, recreate the transportation of slaves across the ocean and show white landowners enjoying the exploitation of people they considered for less than human. An early helicopter shot of the filmmakers arriving at a cotton plantation, the rotor blades whipping the fields into a frenzy, is absolutely mesmerizing. Riz Ortolani, the talented composer who scored "Cannibal Holocaust", the great American Western "The Hunting Party", and "House on the Edge of the Park", to name but a few of his achievements, enriches this production with a sweeping, majestic, searing score that acts as an ironic counterpoint to the film 's bold perspective. You really have to see and hear "Farewell Uncle Tom" to appreciate its incredible originality and courage.
Surreal and Bizarre
sebastian0614 June 2004
I viewed this particular film in the summer of 1972 in New York City. I remember that it was opening day and the turnout was surprisingly large. The other thing that I remembered was that I thought the filmmakers had taken an original approach as far as their documentary-style on slavery. As if I were actually there, watching the events take place. As an African-American man, I found the film fascinating and enlightening. The only thing I did find questionable was, once again, the Black man was depicted as a sexual beast with over-sized reproductive organs. I do believe that this, to some, is what made the movie so titillating. Overall, I still had a pleasant movie going experience. I would like to ask any readers of this commentary that if they have any knowledge of how I may a obtain a copy of this film to please contact me through my e-mail.
Farewell Uncle Tom
opus222228 July 2007
If it were possible to give this waste of film any less than a single star rating I would have done it. What a piece of drivel and a total waste of anyones time to even think about watching it. Historically it has zero value and hold absolutely no bases in fact. Allow me to break down all the elements of the film for you. The cinematography is so lousy it leads one to believe that they must have hired a drunkard to run the camera. The editing is choppy and impossible to follow. The actors in this film must have been hand picked by a fourth grade drama teacher. The sound score is completely ridicules, and I hope whoever wrote it didn't give up his day job at the car wash. If I were the director of this film, I would have either killed myself, or moved to Burma. Of course they're are some idiots who actually liked the film. These are the same people who laugh at children getting hacked to pieces. You can find them and their type hanging out at your local parks mens room.
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