Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000)

Sadly Over-hyped

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I was recently doing research on interracial relationships for my history class. I came across this movie, boy am I glad. Although I am happy the writer of the movie was black, I felt some other issues could've been addressed. As far as Thomas Jefferson having children with Sally Hemings is not far from my mind, seeing he would've been like almost every other slave owner in those days. The relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson is shown as a loving one in this movie. Which I have always felt was very far from the truth, there's no evidence that this relationship was anything more than another slave/master relationship. I did wish that they would've shown one of her children being black, considering 2 or 3 of her children could actually pass for white. Besides those things the movie was great, I loved Sam Neil as Thomas Jefferson, he really out did himself in this movie.

I admit, I cannot readily cite sources for this.BUT my understanding of this scandal is that Thomas Jefferson was accused of fathering Hemings' first child. This accusation was made by a muckraking journalist in the early 1800s who was trying to extort political favors from Jefferson. Fast forward to the late 20th century. DNA testing is conducted and this testing conclusively proves that Jefferson did not father Hemings' oldest child. In fact, none of Hemings' children had Jefferson DNA except her youngest child. Bear in mind, this means that any male Jefferson could have fathered this child, and there were something like 25 male Jefersons living at Monticello at this time. Furthermore, this last child was born years after the original muckraking accusation was made, meaning TJ would have to be pretty dumb to do this (plus he was pretty old, like 60 or so, when this last child was conceived). It seems more likely that Jefferson's younger brother (Randolph? might have been his name), who was notorious for fraternizing with the chattel, was the father.

This movie was not immediately something I found great. In fact, as I watched the beginning, I began to find myself laughing at the absurdity of some of the scenes... a reaction not sought after, I am sure. It wasn't awful, and it did have some good parts, but it was something out of a Harlequin romance novel, it seemed. But, as time rolled on, the movie began to unveil its value as a serious, thought-provoking, and often moving portrayal of a time when the human condition outshined the laws of the day. In the end, what made this movie work -- and it worked quite well once it got past the poorly written first scenes -- were the performances of Sam Neill, and Carmen Ejogo. It was not a surprise that Sam Neill made bad lines sound so good -- he's an extremely talented actor -- but it was a surprise to see Carmen Ejogo, a virtual unknown, act so beautifully and eloquently. She is going to be an actress to watch. Not only is she gorgeous to look at, she's talented, as well. Both actors were brilliant in their roles, and that alone makes the movie worth watching. They should be proud of the work they did.

THE FACTS:She was a slave. He was a slave owner.Any "romance" that blossomed under those circumstances is instantly suspect. Love is free. Love is willing. Love should not be kept under lock and key. Yeah, maybe Sally legitimatly fell in love with TJ BUT the fact still remains, she was his property. What options did she have? What if 14-15 year old Sally had said no to her 42-43 year old "massa" Thomas? But on to the movie itself. Did it make a honest attempt to tell this story, taking in consideration the circumstances in which these people lived or did the creators take the sleasy route and just make it some wack romance novel come to life?Yep...worse fears confirmed...Tina Andrews(writer) turned it in to a part GONE WITH THE WIND, part IMITATION OF LIFE, part THORN BIRDS, all crap. Oh sure we got to see Diahann Carol smack ol Sally upside the head and my goodness, for a slave, Sally sure did get around didn't she? I was expecting Rhett Butler to come rolling through, proclaiming his love for Sally as well.What a load of crap.This movie made slavery look like fun, like an Disney amusement park(SLAVERYLAND! Where Ol' Times Are Not Forgotten! Zippadee Doo Dah Zippadee Yea!), made Sally look like a spoiled(how dare she want Thomas to promise not to sell her!)Lolitaish(her "seduction" of a "resisting" Thomas in romantic pre-French Revolution Paris is sure to be a "classic")civil rights feminist and Thomas as a reluctant, foot soaking, tortured(he supposedly did not agree with the institution of slavery but yet owned slaves and sold some of them to pay off his debts)romantic.Did I already mention that this was a load of crap?To take an period in American history as horrifying as slavery and to use it as a backdrop for a two bit Danielle Steele knockoff is demeaning not only to the audience watching this train wreck of a mini-series but to the memories of those who endured Slavery. Period.