Wow! Such a good movie.

How sad is this?

Highly Overrated But Still Good

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Roots: The Next Generations is a continuation of Roots following the lives of ancestors of Alex Haley and going to Alex Haley and showing him take an interest in the story of Kunta Kinte from stories his grandmother told him. It ends in the 1960s with him finding where Kunte Kinte had come from in Africa. This is a wonderful moving program. It's very interesting seeing the evolution of society as the episodes progress. This is the second best television program after Roots. That ending is amazingly moving. Roots and Roots: The Next Generations are a result of very intelligent people taking very important topics that they care very much about and creating something that is amazingly powerful.

Although Roots is about slavery it is also about family and legacy and as such has a universal message. The superb quality of the first mini- series is carried on in Roots: The Next Generation. The first series left off at the Reconstruction Era where hopes of legal, economic, and social equality are dashed, most especially during the Populist era of the 1890s. That was when a lot of demagogic politicians especially those in the South linked racism to economic advancement for poor whites. A legacy the South still has to deal with today.Great Grandson Tom Harvey of Kunte Kinte from Africa and his wife Irene played by Georg Stanford Brown and Lynne Moody carrying on from the first series. Legends of Kunte Kinte renamed Toby here are handed down to the family as he's referred to as 'the old African'. The issues in their different forms are being addressed down to the present generation as author Alex Haley played by James Earl Jones rediscovers and documents the family's African roots. Marlon Brando won an Emmy and is unforgettable as George Lincoln Rockwell head of the American Nazi Party. You will not forget his performance as the personification of hate and James Earl Jones's extreme uncomfortableness doing an interview. By contrast Jones develops a rough rapport with Malcolm X played by Al Freeman and gets his first acclaim as a writer doing Malcolm's autobiography.One role I particularly liked was that of John Hancock who is the CPO of the steward's mess in The Coast Guard and mentor to young Alex Haley played by Damon Evans. It's a similar to the non-commissioned officer that Hancock played in A Soldier's Story.Also in a mentoring role of sorts is Ossie Davis who mentors Alex Haley's father Simon Haley played by Dorian Harewood in the ways of being a Pullman Porter. The issues involving that job and the organization by A. Phillip Randolph of The Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters ares touched on here, but dealt with fully in 10,000 Black Men Named George.Roots: The Next Generation continues an excellent tradition and will be seen by more generations than the old African Kunte Kinte could have imagined.

i am watching this now on cable TV ONE station which over here is channel 173. amazing film/movie and i plan to order it on DVD as i seen the commercial it is FINALLY BEING RELEASED,in October 07 on DVD. i want it and i love it so much but love even MORE THE ORIGINAL ROOTS. just love it so much can watch it as i do almost each and every year soon to own i my mid 30's the whole collection. no wonder why roots won so many awards and multiple additional nominations..EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS,SHAME ON THE BLACKS LATINOS AND OTHER MINORITIES WHO HASN'T WATCHED,and EVERYONE who believe in STRENGTH, SURVIVING what your thinking,at the time is just too impossible to "survive"and achieve.GOD BLESS YOU ALEX HALEY for this incredible multi-part saga,encompassing QUEEN with HALLE BERRY talented lovely self and others.Bless,all of our ancestors,who came before all of us,may you RIP..Never tired of watching the beautiful talented IRENE CARA,and the handsome beautiful,fine actor,he is of our time under-rated IMO)(in my opinion)Dorian Harewood.Going to watch with an amigo today again.adios

As great as the original ROOTS was, this sequel was even better. Boasting more top-line established movie greats than the original, such as Marlon Brando (who received an Emmy), Henry Fonda and Olivia De Havilland, it was just better made. Of course the power this continuing saga had was based on the original's greatness, so without the original this could not stand. But the lives of Kunta Kinte's descendants depicted here, from where the original left off around 1870, to the adult Alex Haley (masterfully played by James Earl Jones)working on his incredible genealogical novel, was spellbinding and immensely touching throughout every chapter.Carrying over from the original, Georg Stanford Brown as Chicken George's son, Tom Harvey, Brown sets the tone for this sequel with his thoughtful performance as a man dealing with freedom for the first time in his life, and how it affected his daughters, one of whom would become the grandmother of Alex Haley. Irene Cara and Dorian Harewood would add to the roster of stellar acting as Alex's parents, and extremely notable too were efforts by Beah Richards, Bernie Casey, Andy Griffith, Howard E. Rollins, Richard Thomas, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Damon Evans (as a young adult Alex Haley), and many others. A thoroughly rich and rewarding experience made even more spectacular because of its important subject matter.