Down in the Delta 1998
- Director: Maya Angelou
- Based on the book: no
- Cast: Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman Jr, Mary Alice, Esther Rolle, Loretta Divine, Wesley Snipes
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- Alfre Woodard – 12 Years a Slave, American Violet, Bopha, Remember My Name
- Al Freeman Jr – Malcolm X, Finian’s Rainbow, TV series
- Mary Alice – Matrix Revolutions, A Perfect World, I’ll Fly Away, Malcolm X, Awakenings,
- Esther Rolle– Driving Miss Daisy
- Loretta Divine – Dream Girls, Crash, I Am Sam, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Stanley & Iris
- Wesley Snipes – White Men Can’t Jump, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues
- Why? It sounded interesting. Good cast.
- Seen: 19 December 2021
Loretta (Woodard) has two kids, a
drinking problem, no job, and an angry churchy mother Rosa (Alice). They live
in Chicago. To save Loretta from self-destructing, Rosa sends her and the kids
to Uncle Earl (Freeman) in the Delta.
It’s very yay family and rural living,
yay church and the lord, boo hiss big city.
Woodard makes it worth watching. She’s
very good. As are Snipes and Divine. But let me tell you, if anyone forced me
to live in Mariana, Mississippi, I’d have more to offer than the sceptical
dirty looks Woodard does so well. Violence would be involved. That goes for any
other small rural town in the world.
The little bit of slave history is
interesting but it’s kind of shoe-horned in. I appreciate what Angelou was
striving for in this film but it’s just too sweet and predictable to really
work.
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