Not many movies in the 70s were honest about the realities of post-slavery America, but this made-for-TV adaptation of the Ernest Gaines novel pulls no punches. Do note that this is not a feel-good movie by any means, though it does have a powerful ending. For some reason we had this on VHS, and I revisited it as an adult and obviously got much more out of it- for a 6-year-old, it was basically just a bunch of scary violence. I don't think I even really understood what it was about. But this is a very solid movie with a lot of striking (not just shocking) imagery, and it is about emancipation more than any other movie I know of.
