The Documentary: Unmarked
The Directors: Brad J. Bennett, Chris Haley
The Story: The final resting places of many deceased African Americans, both
enslaved and free, have been lost or left in shambles. Some are dedicated to
righting this wrong.
The Interview:
The Review:
Sometimes, you watch a film and it just hits you like, this is something
important that people need to see. I think when co-directors Brad J.
Bennett and Chris Haley first came upon this topic, they probably thought the
same thing because what they put together is 40 minutes of masterclass quality
filmmaking. The amount of information they provide in well under and hour of
screen time is definitely worthy of a feature film and that's probably my only
complaint is that I wanted to see more.
A lot of people want to forget the past, rather than know the past. How can
you know how far you've advanced if you don't know where you come from?" -
Rev. Jasper Fletcher
Wise words from the Reverend, one of the many people who were interviewed for
the documentary. In the last year, we have all learned a lot about how
systemic racism is indelibly embedded into the country's roots so it was very
interesting to see all of these people literally uprooting grave sites and
reclaiming pieces of history that go back all the way to the foundations of
America. To hear all these stories and to see how many gravesites that have
been discovered then to think about how many are still out there waiting to be
found, it's all pretty mind boggling.
It's important that we have a way to remember all of these people who right
now are essentially lost because of hat they meant and continue to mean to
their families and to the country as a whole. Slavery is an unfortunate part
of America letting landmarks literally fade a way as an injustice piled on top
of layers of injustice. The directors follow the trail back through history
and then bring the story back around to current days touching on BLM, the
recent protests, and modern versions of racism and injustice like the George
Floyd murder and other similar events.
Unmarked marks its place in history by literally uncovering historical
remnants of American slavery and black history. This is about as timely and
relevant of a documentary as you will find.
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