Parents' Guide to Roots

Movie NR 1977 573 minutes
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Common Sense Media Review

Brian Costello By Brian Costello , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 14+

Classic miniseries is essential viewing for mature teens.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Any Positive Content?

  • Roots Miniseries: Scene #1
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Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 1 parent review

 

 

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age 15+

Based on 6 kid reviews

 

 

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What's the Story?

In the mid-18th century, Kunta Kinte (Levar Burton) is a 15-year-old living in West Africa, on the verge of manhood and becoming a Mandinka warrior. While leaving his village to find a tree to make a drum, he's kidnapped by trappers, who take him to a slave ship. On the ship, he faces the first of a great many indignities, culminating in being sold to work on a plantation in Virginia. ROOTS chronicles Kinte's life, as well as the lives of his children and grandchildren, for the next 130 years, as they live under the brutal oppression and misery of slavery and all the racism that slavery engenders. And yet, through all the horrors that Kinte's descendants experience, they never forget where they came from, who they are, and what freedom means, with Kinte's daughter Kizzy passing this down to her son, Chicken George (Ben Vereen), who in turn passes the message of freedom and tradition to his children.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 1 ):
Kids say ( 6 ):

This iconic miniseries brings American history to life in ways that history textbooks so often fail to do. The horror, degradation, and violence of slavery are brought into painfully clear focus, so viewers experience the pain that Alex Haley's ancestors felt. By doing so, it becomes the pain of a nation, the reverberations of which we still feel to this day. But, beyond all this brutality, Roots offers hope in the form of an indomitable human spirit, passed from generation to generation, as the story of a people who never forgot their African home and whose culture somehow transcends so much suffering.

For families curious about where we were and how we got here, Roots is essential viewing. It was a best-selling book and a highly regarded miniseries when it was first broadcast in 1977, and it has stood the test of time. This miniseries should still inspire discussion among families about history, genealogy, and the society in which we live.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how the violence, horror, and degradation of slavery was presented in Roots. Was it too much or not enough?

  • Do you think the violence and profanity shown and spoken here was necessary to showing the realities of slavery? Why, or why not? Does the fact that the violence is in a historical context make it more (or less) tolerable?

  • In what ways did Roots bring history to life for you? Why is it important to learn about the past?

  • How do the characters in Roots demonstrate courage and perseverance? What about compassion and integrity? Why are these important character strengths?

Movie Details

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