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Plot

Deviating from the storyline of Alex Haley's book, and the classic 1977 miniseries that followed, the plotline of 1988's Roots: The Gift finds African-born slave Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) and his plantation friend Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) helping freed black man Cletus Moyer (Avery Brooks) smuggle runaway slaves to freedom. Roots: The Gift was set during Christmas of 1775 because it was slated for telecast during the Christmas season of 1988 -- December 11, to be exact. This telecast was timed to coincide with the posthumous publication of Alex Haley's book A Different Kind of Christmas, which had nothing whatsoever to do with Roots but did concern itself with runaway slaves at Yuletide.
MPAA Rating:
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
94min.
Director(s):
Kevin Hooks
Starring:
LeVar Burton , Louis Gossett, Jr. , Avery Brooks
Themes:
Race Relations
Tone:
Gritty,Harsh,Literate,Poignant,Sweeping,Tense
Keywords:
Black [race],Christmas,captive,captor,cross-cultural-relations,escape,family,freedom,heritage,history,holiday,roots [origins],slavery,underground-railroad
Language:
English