On the 4th of July, 1822, much of the young United States celebrated with zeal its annual Independence Day.
For many Americans, the war to secure freedom from the colonial yoke of George III and ensure the blessings of liberty was a living memory. Continental Army veterans were numerous, and the old general, Washington, had been dead just 23 years.
But many of America`s black non-citizens, especially in Charleston, S.C., were not in a celebratory mood. Just two days before, Denmark Vesey and 30 of his followers had been hanged there for insurrection. Four white abolitionists who aided and abetted Vesey`s slave rebellion were jailed.
Vesey`s failed crusade is the centerpiece of the newly released ”Brother Future” (Public Media Video, 1990, color, 110 minutes, $29.95), an offbeat, wonderful family video that salutes Black History Month. It stars Phill Lewis of television`s ”Teech” as T.J., an arrogant, self-centered teenage hustler in Detroit.
T.J. is a scam-a-minute dude-anything to turn a buck. When he spies an inept duo of thieves robbing a warehouse, he relieves them of their loot and sells it himself out of the trunk of his car. But somebody finks, and while fleeing the cops, T.J. runs in front of a speeding auto and is knocked cockeyed.
When he wakes up, still dressed in his 1990 Detroit threads and shades, he`s looking down the muzzle of a pistol held by a slave hunter. At the slave market, where he`s sold as a runaway, T.J. spies a newspaper.
The date is July 13, 1821, and before the day is over, T.J. finds himself in the fields of Cooper Plantation trying to chop cotton. It is a dreadful experience for him.
”Brother Future” is a product of WonderWorks, and its production values are superb, even while being somewhat heavy-handed in the script department.
(When T.J. is whipped for insubordination, for example, the strains of
”Dixie” in a slow beat play in the background.) But there is spice, too, and grit and humor.
The depictions of slave life ring true, though they probably are tame, even romanticized, compared with the realities of black serfdom in the 19th Century.
T.J. learns some valuable lessons. At one point, trying to lift the spirits of his fellow slave, Josiah, he says, ”This slavery thing is a psych. They want you to think you`re not as good as they are so they can work you to death.”
T.J. falls in with Vesey`s plot to organize the slaves and rebel against the hated masters, but just before the uprising is to begin, he is shot down and wakes up back in 1990 Detroit.
”Brother Future” will raise a lot of questions, while providing few answers, about how something as evil as slavery could exist in a good nation, a nation that shed its blood for liberty.
Another new release by WonderWorks is ambitious in its attempt to explain the gap between old worlds and new. ”African Journey” (Public Media Video, 1990, color, three episodes-165 minutes, $79.95) is brilliant.
Shot on location in Ontario and Zimbabwe, ”African Journey” tells the story of two very different teenage boys-an immature but good-hearted white Canadian named Luke Novak, and Themba Maposa, a poor, ambitious black African. Luke`s parents are divorced, and his father, a mining engineer, lands a job running a copper mine in Africa. Luke goes to spend the summer with him, and winds up getting the experience of a lifetime.
Themba is the son of the mine foreman, and even though his family is poor and his chances of success slim, dreams-and studies-to become an engineer himself.
Both boys are caught between the modern world (one can see the towers of a nearby city from the plains of the regional game preserve) and the restrictive mores of tribal custom. At the same time, those customs help ensure survival against poverty, famine and exploitation.
These become both a source of comfort and of conflict to Luke, the outsider, and Themba, who must walk a line between them.
Luke goes a little soft on Themba`s kid sister, Tulani, and is shattered when he learns her father has arranged a marriage for her to a wealthy older man, whose money can help the family and provide for Themba`s education.
Themba`s family`s survival-and the boys` friendship-is threatened when the mine arbitrarily is closed by its overseas owners.
”Your father can get another job,” the bitter Themba tells Luke. ”Mine can`t.” But the kinship they have formed, firmly bonded when Luke tries to get medicine to save the life of Themba`s dying sister, wins out.
And like the situation it portrays, ”African Journey,” with its contrasts of cluttered cities and majestic vistas, its clash of dangerous realities, ends on a note of hope, but not promise.
