Sankofa Movie Review

Focusing on slavery and African American struggles, Sankofa plays a big part in the African Diaspora. African Diaspora is the relocation of Africans and their descendants, both voluntarily and involuntarily, to different parts of the world in prehistoric and modern times. The African continent and its diaspora have had, and continue to have, a profound influence on worldwide culture and civilization. In a few different areas including music, art, science, architecture, food, business, agriculture, and sports, Africa and the African diaspora have an extremely noticeable impact. This movie helps us newcomers understand what our ancestors had to go through and how it impacted our lives today.

I personally thought the acting was very good. Especially when it comes to the main character. I really got to feel her part when she was being held against her will and branding her. I also saw a great performance when they were taking Nunu away. When it comes to these historical types of movies, it takes good actors to assist their audience in perceiving their hardship. Another great actor was the guy in the beginning telling everyone to go back to where they came from and that they shouldn’t be there. He showed a lot of anger and discomfort.

Sankofa analyzes the main parts of slavery that the Maroons, a group of runaway slaves, have to go through. Mona, a model who goes back in time, is the main character who sees slavery the same way everyone sees it. Mona learns that it is important to know about your past. The movie starts off outside of a former slave castle and people of all kinds are receiving a tour and a man appears and tells them to go back where they came from. He tells Mona to go back in time where she experiences slavery as a new character, Shola.

Compared to everything else I usually watch, this was very different. Because of their accents, it was sometimes hard to comprehend what they were saying but closed captions helped a lot. When it comes to being called out of their names, back then, it was so usual but nowadays, that’ll get someone killed. Even though they had no choice, it was so hard seeing black people whipping other black people. It’s really hard looking back on what us African Americans had to experience and it makes me so grateful knowing that I would never have to experience as much as they had to.