Roots: The Next Generations (TV Mini Series) Part VII (1960-1967) (1979) User Reviews

James Earl Jones and Marlon Brando

[kevinolzak · 10/10 · 15 January 2017]

The seventh and final chapter casts James Earl Jones as writer Alex Haley, his relationship with his ever demanding father Simon (Dorian Harewood) as strained as ever. His increasing number of magazine articles allow him the chance at an even greater challenge, conducting a Playboy interview with George Lincoln Rockwell (Marlon Brando), the head of the American Nazi Party (winning Brando an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series). It's a marvelously intense sequence lasting seven minutes, Haley sweating as Rockwell fingers his pistol, dismissing the notion that Hitler extinguished six million Jews. After that Alex is allowed to compose the biography of Malcolm X, a performance that earned Al Freeman Jr. an Emmy nomination. Things really shift into high gear when he begins to research his own family tree, inspired by Malcolm's lost heritage, not knowing his real name and having to adopt the X to take its place, feeling the loss of identity. The perspective of an objective author guides Haley in obsessive fashion, first on the same front porch in Henning with cousin Georgia Anderson (Lynn Hamilton), to the Wisconsin home of dialectician Dr. Vansina (Michael Constantine), then an all expenses paid trip to the River Gambia in the West African nation of Senegal. Face to face with the Griot who repeats generations of family history, hours pass before Alex hears the familiar tale of Kunta Kinte, who went in search of a log to make a drum for his little brother, never to be seen again. It's a moving conclusion to the epic saga, watching Haley embrace his cousin in the village of his ancestors, acknowledging who he truly is after generations in slavery. Opinions vary of course but there was no drop in quality from the original ROOTS to its sequel, as top notch writing and acting brings the Haley family full circle.