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Rosewood

1997

John Singleton

Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Bruce McGill ...

6.0

420

Action Based on a true story, ROSEWOOD takes place in a predominantly black Florida town in 1923. A woman in the neighboring town of Sumner, beaten by a lover, falsely claims that a black man assaulted her, thereby providing an excuse for her redneck townspeople to head for Rosewood with rifles and nooses. Ultimately, her lie engenders an unbelievable tragedy that is redeemed only by the heroism of those who endured it.

	Media	Author	Review
		Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"If the movie were simply the story of this event, it would be no more than a sad record. What makes it more is the way it shows how racism breeds and feeds, and is taught by father to son (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Janet Maslin The New York Times	"The film's violent scenes are both brutal and trite (...) [It] does have three leading actors who are so magnetic that they resist oversimplification."
		Todd McCarthy Variety	"Although it increasingly succumbs to a tendency toward conventional movie heroics, John Singleton's fourth film tells a story of rare interest and tragedy."
		David Nicholson The Washington Post	"A moving re-creation of a shameful incident (...) But because the filmmakers stray from the facts (...) there is a cheapness at the core of the film that comes perilously close to undermining it."
		James Berardinelli ReelViews	"While 'Rosewood' must be seen as a cohesive whole to be fully appreciated, there are isolated moments that stand out because of their haunting power (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"Singleton’s 'Rosewood' makes you feel the shock of racial violence — the obscenity of it"

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