Film has been the most influential medium in the presentation of the history of slavery to the general public.Michael T. Martin and David C. Wall, "The Politics of Cine-Memory: Signifying Slavery in the History Film," in Robert A. Rosenstone and Constantin Parvulesu, eds. A Companion to the Historical Film (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), p67.Andrews, K. (2016). The Psychosis of Whiteness: The Celluloid Hallucinations of Amazing Grace and Belle. Journal of Black Studies, 47(5), 435-453. The American film industry has had a complex relationship with slavery, and until recent decades often avoided the topic. Films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915)Melvyn Stokes, D.W. Griffith's the Birth of a Nation: A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time (2008) and Gone with the Wind (1939) became controversial because they gave a favorable depiction and helped shift the Lost Cause Myth into a mainstream idea. In 1940, The Santa Fe Trail gave a strong condemnation of abolitionist John Brown's attacks on slavery.Robert E. Morsberger, "Slavery and 'The Santa Fe Trail,' or, John Brown on Hollywood's Sour Apple Tree," American Studies (1977) 18#2 pp. 87–98. online The American civil rights movement in the 1950s made defiant slaves into heroes.
Most Hollywood films used American settings, although Spartacus (1960) dealt with an actual slave revolt in the Roman Empire known as the Third Servile War. It failed, and all the rebels were executed, but their spirit lived on according to the film.Natalie Zemon Davis, Slaves on Screen: Film and Historical Vision (2002) ch 2 The Last Supper (La última cena in Spanish) was a 1976 film directed by Cuban Tomás Gutiérrez Alea about the teaching of Christianity to slaves in Cuba and emphasizes the role of ritual and revolt. The 1969 film Burn! takes place on the imaginary Portuguese island of Queimada (where the locals speak Spanish) and merges historical events that took place in Brazil, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, and elsewhere.Natalie Zemon Davis, Slaves on Screen: Film and Historical Vision (2002) ch 3
List of films
The following dramatic and documentary films featuring slavery are listed alphabetically. (For movies portraying penal labour see the list linked from here.)