Unchained Memories (2003)

Original title

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives

Directed by

Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 15m

Rating

5.2 of 10 from 8 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Actors read from interviews with former slaves taken in the 1930s. The film presents what daily life was like under slavery, including the constant threat of violence or being sold away from family.

historicalsoberingeducationalreflectiveemotionalharrowingoral-historystraightforward

What happens

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives is a 2003 American documentary film about the stories of former slaves interviewed during the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project and preserved in the WPA Slave Narrative Collection. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. The slave narratives may be the most accurate in terms of the everyday activities of the enslaved, serving as personal memoirs of more than two thousand former slaves. The documentary depicts the emotions of the slaves and what they endured. The "Master" had the opportunity to sell, trade, or kill the enslaved, for retribution should one slave not obey. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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