The best Ossie Davis’s documentary movies
Today we present the best Ossie Davis’s movies. If you are a great movie fan, you will surely know most of them, but we hope to discover a movie that you have not yet seen … and that you love! Let’s go there with the best Ossie Davis’s movies.
4 Little Girls
7.8/10
On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
8/10
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the Library of Congress. These first-person anecdotes, ranging from the brutal to the bittersweet, have been brought to vivid life in this unique HBO documentary special, featuring the on-camera voices of over a dozen top African-American actors.
Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property
6.8/10
In 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in the United States that resulted in the murder of local slave owners and their families, the eventual execution of 55 rebels and the retribution lynching of more than 200 innocent slaves. Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property examines how the story of Turner’s revolt has been interpreted throughout history and how it continues to raise new questions about the nature of terrorism and other forms of violent resistance to oppression. The film adopts an innovative structure by interspersing documentary footage and interviews with dramatizations of these different versions of Turner’s story. A unique collaboration between MacArthur Genius Award feature director Charles Burnett, acclaimed historian of slavery Kenneth S. Greenberg and Academy Award-nominated documentary producer Frank Christopher, Nat Turner is a compelling look at one of history’s most mysterious figures.
Malcolm X
7.5/10
James Earl Jones narrates this fascinating and moving documentary about the life of the assassinated black leader through various sources.
Black Shadows on the Silver Screen
Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.
The Fall
6.9/10
"The Fall" depicts certain scenes in New York City between October 1967 and March 1968, shot by the independent filmmaker, Peter Whitehead. It is a very personal documentary, and Whitehead appears in a large number of scenes, and we hear his lengthy ruminations on the state of the United States and the war in Vietnam.
Black Liberation
Produced in collaboration with Malcolm X and narrated by Ossie Davis, this call to arms layers revolutionary text from multiple sources with gritty, shot-on-the-streets-of-New York footage of African-American struggle. A forgotten masterpiece from radical filmmaker, theorist and founder of Cinéma Éngagé, Édouard de Laurot.
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Malcolm X
6.3/10
A short documentary about the making of Spike Lee's biopic, 'Malcolm X'.
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
7.1/10
A profile of the life of actor Walter Matthau.
The History Makers: Success
Ossie Davis, Terry McMillan, Horace Julian Bond, Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick and many others share their inspiring stories of success in the first installment of this series about African-American history makers, including civil rights leaders, actors and authors. A good education, dedication to work, dogged determination and the courage to take risks figure prominently in these remarkable success stories told by notable African Americans.
Malcolm X: Make It Plain
7.6/10
Narrated by actress Alfre Woodard, this trenchant, eye-opening doc traces the radical civil rights leader’s life from his tumultuous childhood, through his rise in the ranks of the Nation of Islam, to his 1965 assassination.
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
8.6/10
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 documentary about the life of Academy Award nominated actress Beah Richards. Directed by Lisa Gay Hamilton, it won the Documentary Award at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival in 2003.
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
7.8/10
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic champion of the rights of the poor working man, the disfranchised and people of color. He led a life in the vanguard of many movements, achieved international acclaim for his music and suffered tremendous personal sacrifice. His story is one of the great dramas of the 20th century, spanning an international canvas of social upheaval and ideological controversy.
Neighborhoods: The Hidden Cities of San Francisco - The Fillmore
7.9/10
From the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning PBS series NEIGHBORHOODS: THE HIDDEN CITIES OF SAN FRANCISCO comes the remarkable story of San Francisco's Fillmore District. Remembered today mainly for its rock & roll auditorium, the Fillmore District is one of the great cautionary tales of American urban life. From the wholesale removal of Japanese Americans during World War II, to the jazz heyday of the 1950s, to the bulldozers of urban renewal, the Fillmore District has seen its share of drama.
Hands of Inge
The work of sculptor Inge Hardison is the subject of this beautiful short portrait of an artist. Hardison is perhaps best known for "Negro Giants in History," her important series of busts made during the early 1960s. Hands of Inge was edited by Hortense "Tee" Beveridge, a pioneer in her field who worked in the commercial industry and on independent, non-commercial films such as Amiri Baraka's 1968 film "The New-Ark". In the mid-1950s Beveridge became the first Black woman to gain admission to Local 771, the motion picture editors union.
Going Back to T-Town
7.6/10
Goin’ Back to T-Town tells the story of Greenwood, an extraordinary Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that prospered during the 1920s and 30s despite rampant and hostile segregation. Torn apart in 1921 by one of the worst racially-motivated massacres in the nation’s history, the neighborhood rose from the ashes, and by 1936 boasted the largest concentration of Black-owned businesses in the U.S., known as “Black Wall Street.” Ironically, it could not survive the progressive policies of integration and urban renewal of the 1960s. Told through the memories of those who lived through the events, the film is a bittersweet celebration of small-town life and the resilience of a community’s spirit.
Still A Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class
7.1/10
The Black middle class, torn between white goals and Black needs, are examined by producers William Greaves and William Branch in a 90-minute NET Journal documentary.
