It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

When talking about Roots it's good to keep in mind Woodrow Wilson's praise of D.W. Griffith's Birth Of A Nation. "History written with lightning" were the words of the 28th president for a ground breaking film reflecting his southern upbringing. Something similar should be said about Roots which gives the history of slavery as seen through the eyes of the descendants of Kunte Kinte of which author Alex Haley was one. Every black male player of the time in 1977 whose name wasn't Sidney Poitier seem to participate here and those who didn't make it to the original production made it to the sequel. The females did just as well. Levar Burton who played the teenage Kunte Kinte was given his first big break and this became one of two career roles for him, the other being Geordi LaForge on Star Trek The Next Generation. Favorites of mine included John Amos who played the adult Kunte Kinte renamed Toby by his owners. He never forgets his Roots which is the whole basis of the mini-series. But he does become a father. His daughter is played by Leslie Uggams and she's a standout as well. So for me is Lou Gossett, Jr. who played The Fiddler who tries to teach Kunte Kinte aka Toby how to survive. Amos is not a willing pupil to say the least.The white players here in southern society have some juicy roles as well. My absolute favorite here is Sandy Duncan who is the quintessence of the empty headed southern belle brought up when push comes to shove to regard her slaves as property.One thing that is rarely discussed about Roots is the tradition in many cultures of oral history. It is his African tradition of that that keeps the generations in touch with the African past. Slave owners were quite specific about not teaching their slaves how to read and write. Illiteracy is a powerful weapon, but it need not be invincible as Roots demonstrates. The story of Kunte Kinte's descendants takes us to shortly after the Civil War in the Reconstruction Era. This is as much history written with lightning than Birth Of A Nation was in its time. In fact back in 1915 it would have been impossible to conceive of something like Roots being written and performed. That in itself is a testament as to how far we've come as a society.

Soon after this mini-series first came out on television, I remember that the biggest 'shock' that was written about and publicized wasn't about the cruelty and unfairness of slavery; or, the praising of its all-star cast and production; or, even Alex Haley's achievements as a writer!?!? It was about the actor, Ralph Waite (Daddy Walton on "The Waltons") - the once family-friendly patriarch of a nice family now using racially-degrading terms!?!? WHAT!?!? That's what people found most important about this mini-series...a talented 'white' actor being criticized for portraying a white-slave-trader 'character,' written about by a talented 'black' writer!?!? What was he supposed to do...pass-up the role? If he had, someone else would have done it!Since then, I've read a lot of reviews, on and off of IMDb, about how this isn't really based upon Alex Haley's own 'roots;' how it's plagiarized from another writer; that it's altogether 'fake;' etc; etc. Who cares!?!? This series depicts human nature and how people were throughout an old period in American History...EVERY American's American HISTORY!It's a great read as a book, and, a great achievement as a mini-series! Whether or not these events happened in-full or in-part as they are depicted, they had to have happened somewhere at some time. Maybe in Africa, Asia, and/or South America during their European colonization; maybe in Asia when Japan raped Nanking, China, and, other nations before and during World War II; maybe in Africa, or, anywhere else in the world (Europe; Native America; etc.), when one tribe of people enslaved another; etc.If any or all of this is the case...then, "Roots" isn't only an 'American' story...it's a worldwide "HUMAN" story. A story of mankind's darker side in general - about what happens when 'any' powerful people invade and enslave 'any other' weaker people, anywhere in the world, past and present.If that's the case, then, 'this' is the 'real' "GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD"...only told in an old American setting.

As we are still striving to make sense and harmony of racial relations. As this miniseries from the 1977 TV season that drew over 100M people and how it introduced the world to how racism really began about.It shows the struggle to be free and how it looks at the descendants of the late Alex Haley, author the book thinking that the word "free" would never, ever come.By showing the struggles that these people have. From Kunta Kinte the main protagonist to his line of family linage like Kizzy, Chicken George, etc.A great cast led by a then unknown Levar Burton and great writing. Shows us that this miniseries needs to be seen not just in the past, but present and future generations to come.No matter what race, color, creed, gender, religion, etc we belong in. For it is the fight to accept others like in the past that has since occurred in the present and in the future to come.Haley should take a bow for opening up 100M to the fight to remain free and accept others!

Back in 1999, not too long before I became a teenager, I got to see this 1977 mini-series on TV. I didn't catch the very beginning, but started watching at one point during the first episode, and then watched the rest of the episodes from start to finish as they aired weekly. I had no clue what "Roots" was about when I started watching, so I was in for some surprises, and it was one unforgettable experience! I've finally watched the hit mini-series again after eight years (all of it this time), but by this time, I had learned that it appears it's not what I thought it was for many years! This mini-series is an adaptation of the book of the same name, written by Alex Haley, which is supposed to be about his family history. It starts with Kunta Kinte, who is born in an African village in 1750. Sadly, as a teenager, he is kidnapped by slave traders and taken across the Atlantic Ocean to America, where he is sold into slavery and given the name Toby. From there, the story focuses on the life of Kunta as a slave on a plantation in Virginia, and then his descendants in the next several generations that follow.Haley has received a lot of praise for tracing back his ancestry so far and writing about it, but there seems to be a lot of evidence indicating that he didn't really do it, and his story is a fraud. Obviously, he would have had to make SOME things up for the story, but apparently, he plagiarized a lot of it from a book called "The African", written by an author named Harold Courlander, which he was sued for. It has also been revealed that the story is mostly fictional. Many have pointed these things out already, and I'm just trying to put them into my own words. I'm not going to say anything else about it, but you could easily find a lot more information elsewhere.The reason why I have given this adaptation of "Roots" a 6/10 is that despite what I've mentioned above, it's still an interesting story, with some very moving scenes! Some parts may not have been scripted as well as they could have been, but overall, it's a VERY memorable mini-series. For that, I give it an above average rating, but would give it a higher one if it weren't for the negative things I've learned about it. The fact that it was presented as a family history when it really isn't, and is still advertised as such today (like I saw on the back of the DVD set) just isn't right. It's common for films based on true stories to be very inaccurate, but "Roots" isn't even really based on a true story! So, it's not a bad mini-series, but don't watch it thinking it's what it says it is (like I once did).