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Summary: Sally Hemings
Comment: It's about time the true story has come out proving that white men can and do fall in love with black women regardless of obstacles (family, social, financial).
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Summary: A Love Story?
Comment: Many may find this story of Sally and Thomas a little over the top. But putting todays values aside, it is a love story as only that time period could allow. Mr. Jefferson was tied to social rules of the day and Sally was in love with him. They made the best the could of a tough situation. But in the end it was their love for each other that made both into memorable and eternal lovers for the ages. Many facts are left out, but that is hollywood...just go with the flow...
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Summary: There is nothing romantic about slavery
Comment: This movie romanticizes a slave master's sexual union and there is no romance in rape. Young female slaves had no right of refusal if a master decided to bed them.
Thomas Jefferson's Virginia was the first colony to have laws on slavery that were adopted by the other colonies. These included making slavery lifelong and hereditary, thus creating a permanent slave caste without legal rights until Constitutional Amendments.
Election night 2008 was historic and memorable because it was Jefferson's State of Virginia that put Barack Obama over the top to win decisively as President of the United States. History has come full circle. Now to get to work united to solve this economic crisis. God is great and his lessons sometimes take long to learn.
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Summary: Loved It
Comment: This was a very well made movie. I admit that I'm a sap for old movies and old things and old times. I am also a big fanatic about interracial relationships and perhaps that's why I love this movie so much. I think it should have won some kind of award. All of my family watched it with me and they enjoyed it. I would recommend this movie to anyone.It was far better than what I expected.
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Summary: Very poorly executed
Comment: I have to give the filmmakers credit for bringing to light a story that, for so long, historians rejected. We now know that Thomas Jefferson did indeed have a 30-year relationship with Sally Hemings, his slave (and wife's half-sister). The dialogue is bad, costuming not particularly accurate, and the actors pretty bad. All that can be overlooked. What is problematic to me is that the story, as presented here, is largely fictional.
First, the actress playing Hemings was entirely too, well, black, to be accurate. Sally Hemings was only 1/4 black and described as being "mighty near white" by Edmund Bacon, Jefferson's overseer. Change her clothes from servant/slave gear and one would likely have assumed she was white. We have no knowledge that Sally Hemings could write, let alone read and the movie has her reading and writing in English and French. Given that Jefferson encouraged education and learning music, we have no reason to assume she could do either. And while we know that she had the opportunity to stay behind in France and be free, there is no indication of the drama between herself, her brother, and Jefferson, nor did they flee paris due to an angry mob attacking his home. There is a disturbing scene in which Jefferson all but rapes Hemings in Paris, something we have zero documentation of (and frankly, would be WAY out of line for Jefferson's character.) Also, as the writers are trying to convince the audience that this is a love/companionate relationship, this is a godawful way to do it. We have no facts that prove that Sally was pregnant when she returned home from France (that story was largely concocted by Thomas Woodson, who claimed to be the long-lost first son of Jefferson and Hemings and has since been proven not to be ) Madison Hemings, in his memoirs, refers to a child that was born about 1790 but did not live. Paris is simply the place historians assume the relationship started because Madison Hemings said so in his memoirs. The entire story about Hemings and the slave Henry she was in love with and supposed to marry was a fabrication, as was the rape/whipping scene in the barn. These are two of my least favorite scenes in the movie because they were written purely to tug at teh viewers heartstrings and not to give them any sort of basis in reality. Finally, Andrews assumes a love relationship between Jefferson and Hemings. None of this is documented anywhere at all. After doing very extensive research on the subject, I personally believe that it was a companionate relationship, but one largely based on Jefferson's odd quirks and beliefs (see Death and Desire at Monticello by Andrew Burnstein).
I am all in favor of historical fiction - but real historical fiction takes the facts and makes a marginally fictionalized account, not just for entertainment value, but to gain the public's interest in the truth. This film has created a piece of fiction using real characters. That's just not the same as historical fiction. It appears that Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (by Fawn Brodie) and Barbara Chase-Riboud's Sally Hemings: A Novel were both read by the writers and they skipped over the academic stuff entirely - a huge mistake.
I have watched this movie several times, in different years, and at different points in my eduation (I'm doing a Master's in American History) and my opinion of the film sinks lower every time I watch it. I support the movie's purpose, but not actual product. So, if you're looking for something entertaining AND accurate, try reading any of Annette Gordon-Wood's books, Death and Desire at Monticello, Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia (the sections that relate to slavery), and Joseph Ellis' Thomas Jefferson: The American Sphynx.
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