“High on the Hog” is a 2021 Netflix documentary about how Black American food culture and styles of cooking developed and provided the foundation for much of America’s food culture. Over four episodes the show’s host, Stephen Satterfield, a food writer, visits various locations to learn about Black food history and traditions. The documentary does a great job of showing the historical connection of the Black diaspora’s shared culture. While touching on both familiar and unfamiliar topics, this approach to discussing Black American history feels new and refreshing.
Category: <span>Movie Reviews</span>
“Hotel Rwanda” is a 2004 film about a Hutu hotel manager who wheels and deals to hide 1000 Tutsi at a luxury hotel in the midst of the 1994 Rwandan conflict. Being the manager of the luxurious Hôtel des Mille Collines (Co-lean) in Kigali, Rwanda afforded Paul Rusesabagina and his wife and children a comfortable life. His position and the ability to access various luxuries and resources helped create connections with various local and international big-shots. Those connections combined with Paul’s hustle and quick thinking would prove vitally important after the Hutu military began a genocidal attack on the Tutsi ethnic group.
“Descendant” is a 2022 documentary about the past and present history of the Clotilda and Africatown. The Clotilda was a slave ship that illegally transported what is believed to be the last group of kidnapped Africans to America. After the Civil War, the group settled in an area of Alabama near where they first arrived and established a Black settlement that would come to be called Africatown. The documentary tells the story of the survivors of the Clotilda and follows their descendants’ fight to maintain control of their town and legacy when the ship’s remains are finally located.
Summary Blood Diamond is a 2006 Edward Zwick-directed film set in war-torn 1990s Sierre Leone about a large and potentially life-changing diamond. As factions within the country fight over control…
Summary Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me is an inspirational 2018 documentary directed by Olivia Lichtenstein about the life and career of the legendary R&B singer. Born and raised…