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Runaway Slave (2012)


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Plot

At the beginning of the film two rallies are juxtaposed. They both occurred around the same time on the same day. One was held at the Washington mall hosted by Glenn Beck with the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and the vice president of the Frederick Douglass foundation. The other rally is hosted by Al Sharpton and is very mean-spirited and hostile whereas the one that is hosted by Glenn Beck and company is very hopeful and positive. A black man in the Al Sharpton crowd is interviewed and asked why he isn’t with the other rally and he emphatically tells Rev. C.L. Bryant that they are the enemy. Bryant examines this point of view that believes that racism is still rampant in the United States and the black people are not free at last. The Reverend doesn’t think this is so and he is determined to find others that share his outlook.

 

Character Development

No.

 

Acting

No acting. This was a documentary.

 

Overview

This production had a lot heart with some genially moving interviews. The theme of the film was the New Underground Railroad and whenever the pace began to waiver Rev. C.L. Bryant would take the audience on the road again to a new town, new place in search for a new discussion. Scores of people were interviewed. And there were a lot of shots taken from vehicles while the film crew traveled through roadways and over bridges and to national parks and exhibits. A good portion of the film talked about the history of the Underground Railroad, slavery and the civil rights movement. Rev. C.L. Bryant made this a very personal tale as well and shared his journey as well as that of the bigger picture and other people’s stories. The challenge that was stated might be news to some, but it has been said many times before. That Republicans were the ones that freed the slaves and the Democrats have been the ones that have been historically for slavery and against civil rights and for segregation and today Democrats want to keep blacks in a slavery of welfare and failing schools. The message is that progressivism equals socialism. The progressives want more taxes and less individual rights with a government that has greater influence over the American citizen from cradle to grave. The discussion talks about the horrors of the Great Society and how it singlehandedly destroyed the black family, something that slavery wasn’t able to do. Rev. C. L. Bryant explains while walking the path of the original runaway slaves that it is the American spirit that wants to live free or die trying.