Within Our Gates

Title: Within Our Gates
Year: 1920
Country: USA
Director: Oscar Micheaux
Producer: Oscar Micheaux
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 79 minutes
Viewed: June 12, 2010

Review: This is the first film we have watched that was directed by an African-American. It was interesting from the get go in our attempt to watch this movie. Most of them have been easy to locate but this one took a little bit more searching come to find it on the BMA podcast. The film was in two parts via podcast, and I'm unaware if that is how it was made originally or not. Watching this movie it was like we had gone backwards in the book rather than forward. The last film had started to keep our attention more affectively and while this did not necessarily lose our attention it was incredibly difficult to follow. The beginning we were completely unable to read what was said, and throughout the dialogue cards a few of them were impossible to tell what it said. We attempted as best we could to follow the film, but it was definitely a difficult task. There was no music in the background of this film, which also made it seem like we had gone backwards in the advancement of film. It is understandable why the film is in the book, especially with it having been the "earliest surviving feature" (1001 Movies...) by an African-American, but overall I would not imagine it being put in the book. The book notes that the movie had been censored many times because of it being too provocative near the timing the Chicago race riots, because of two things the lynching and rape, however if I would not have known that there was rape from the book I'm not sure I would have picked it out as that, but instead thought it was an attack. The film was restored and I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to watch it if it had not been restored.

Rating:
2 Shamrocks
1 Soccer Ball

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