Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.5

Roots Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 20, 2016

American broadcast network television changed forever on the evening of January 23, 1977, though as so often seems to be the case when an epochal shift occurs, it wasn’t part of some supposed master plan. Roots: The Complete Original Series debuted that winter evening, creating a sensation that only built over the subsequent several evenings as further episodes unspooled, with the final episode airing on January 30, 1977 garnering an almost unheard of 71% share of all people watching television. It’s notable that Roots was therefore “must see TV” well over a decade before the National Broadcasting Company started branding some of its shows with that rubric, but it’s also notable that despite a popular misconception, the 1977 Roots was not the first miniseries. Short (or at least shorter) form series had already been more customary across the pond in the United Kingdom, but even American audiences had already been exposed to multi-night “special events” like QB VII and (especially) 1976’s Rich Man, Poor Man. ABC was evidently actually fairly nervous about Roots, tailoring promos to more prominently feature the white actors than the black, and playing down the more brutal aspects of the slave trade. They needn’t have worried—the audience, while understandably shocked at one of the more detailed (if not always completely factual) accounts of one of the more shameful scars on human history, saw Roots as both dramatic and educational, and in fact the whole viewing experience often became a family affair, replete with discussion sessions afterward. It was a rare moment of communal togetherness in the often fractious world of the United States, and the original Roots still holds an honored place in the annals of broadcast television. So, some might wonder, why remake it? While there ironically may be no good answer to that question, it’s therefore also ironic that this “new, improved” Roots is in its own way as riveting and meaningful as the original. It’s a somewhat flashier production, able to utilize elements like a widescreen aspect ratio, surround sound and a more blatantly cinematic ambience to give this version “zazz” (as they say), with an understanding that “zazz” is hardly what Roots calls for. Therefore, one of the most commendable thing about this iteration of Roots is how emotionally relevant and compelling it is.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, two of the things that historians pointed out and even quibbled with in the first version of Roots have been changed here. The eventual enslavement of Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby) is not the result of an incursion of Europeans, but instead the result of some internecine warfare with another African tribe. (A number of other, perhaps more minor, changes have been made, including making Kinte’s homeland of Juffere something of a teeming metropolis instead of an aggregation of huts.) Later, once Kinte is horrifyingly chained in the hold of a slave ship, there’s no conscience stricken captain around to assuage white guilt over the situation. This updated Roots probably has less to worry about in terms of audience reaction than the “suits” who shepherded the 1970s outing had (whether warranted or not), and that tends to play to this miniseries’ benefit, since there’s less of a feeling of compromise born of marketing surveys.

One of the perhaps less felicitous additions to this version is a kind of patently odd detour into the Revolutionary War, when Kunta escapes and joins an Ethiopian regiment fighting for the British. This was nowhere to be found in Alex Haley’s original source novel, and was similarly absent from the first Roots miniseries, and it’s a questionable revision at best, though it leads to one of the more devastating indignities Kunta is forced to suffer, his own kind of “hobbling”. Fans of the original Roots miniseries can play their own version of “whack a mole” in a way trying to spot the sometimes picayune, sometimes rather major, differences between that version and this new one, though the throughline is arguably at least mostly intact. Some of the best "new" content revolves around Chicken George (Regé-Jean Page), who receives a probably more thorough accounting in this version than he did in the first one.

While the story is of course riveting in and of itself, much like with the first Roots, the bulk of the strength of this version comes from some extremely poignant performances. Malachi Kirby is perhaps a slightly more sullen Kunta than LeVar Burton (one of many producers of this version) was in the original, while (for me, anyway) Forest Whitaker never quite captures Fiddler the same way that Louis Gossett, Jr. did in the first version, though his performance is undeniably often quite moving (the end of the first episode is a potent example of that tendency). The supporting cast of this iteration is generally first rate, and one kind of laudable if subliminal element to the casting this time is that one feels “special guest stars” that a television audience would immediately consider “accessible” have been left out of the equation this time.

This revised Roots may never attain the glorified emotional heights of the first version if only because a jaded audience has “been there, seen that” with all sorts of media coverage of slavery in the interim, including countless History Channel documentaries and feature films like 12 Years a Slave. The fact that it does work up considerable emotional heft, repeatedly at that, is a testament not just to the ferocity of Haley’s original tale, but the talent that brought it back to the screen this time. This is a kind of odd, “through the looking glass” experience for those who grew up with the first Roots as one of the formative experiences of their childhood or youth, but it’s a uniquely satisfying remake that resonates particularly well perhaps because people have become more aware of the horrors of this time period due to the influence of that epochal change that began on January 23, 1977.

Roots Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Roots is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and the History Channel with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa as the camera utilized for this shoot, and the results are often incredibly gorgeous, offering a razor sharp counterpoint to the often questionable morass of (im?)morality on display. While a quartet of directors and a pair of cinematographers evidently contributed to the final product, the overall look of the miniseries is quite homogenous, something that's even more remarkable when one considers the far flung locales that are being depicted. The first part of the miniseries tends to exploit more tones in the brown ranges, as Kunta's African youth is detailed. Once things move into the American South, there's a bit more variety on display, but again the production design is often deliberately tamped down and even bland, allowing for brief pops of color in elements like scarves or natural items like fruit and vegetables. There's intermittent color grading on display, but detail levels are rarely if ever affected in any material way. Fine detail is often impressive, especially in the many close-ups. Contrast is also solid and consistent throughout the presentation. Compression has been well handled and no overt problems were noticed in preparation for this review.

Roots Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Roots features a nicely detailed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that offers some excellent surround activity in many sequences including everything from African raids to the hold of the slave ship to Revolutionary War battles to even the gentle wafting of breezes through a cotton field. Some of the ambient environmental effects are subtle at times, but discrete channel placement is the norm rather than the exception, especially when the miniseries ventures outside (which it frequently does). Dialogue is rendered cleanly (the miniseries is multilingual, with some forced English subtitles on occasion).

Roots Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Roots: A History Revealed (1080p; 42:30) is the sole supplement on this set and the only content of any kind on the third disc of this three disc release (the first two advertise "extras", but those turn out to be exciting items like bookmarks and trailers). This is an OK featurette that nonetheless may strike some as merely an extended advertisement for the miniseries, which in fact I suspect it was. Audiophiles may also be less than thrilled with the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack on the documentary, the only audio option on this particular disc.

Roots Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The first Roots was such a phenomenon on so many levels that a remake would seem on its face to be a fool's errand. The fact that this Roots succeeds in such large measure is not so much surprising (given the talent involved) as it is actually uplifting, knowing that Alex Haley's incredible tale can "survive" even the efforts of a bunch of Hollywood types trying to reinvent the veritable wheel. This is a somewhat glossier version of the story, but it's also considerably more graphic than the original version. Those may seem to be mutually exclusive elements, but this Roots manages to balance them incredibly effectively. Technical merits are strong, and Roots comes Highly recommended.