Sunday, April 25, 2021

Unmarked - Documentary Review


The Documentary: Unmarked

The Directors: Brad J. Bennett, Chris Haley

The Story: The final resting places of many deceased African Americans, both enslaved and free, have been lost or left in shambles. Some are dedicated to righting this wrong.

The Interview:



The Review:
Sometimes, you watch a film and it just hits you like, this is something important that people need to see. I think when co-directors Brad J. Bennett and Chris Haley first came upon this topic, they probably thought the same thing because what they put together is 40 minutes of masterclass quality filmmaking. The amount of information they provide in well under and hour of screen time is definitely worthy of a feature film and that's probably my only complaint is that I wanted to see more. 

A lot of people want to forget the past, rather than know the past. How can you know how far you've advanced if you don't know where you come from?" - Rev. Jasper Fletcher

Wise words from the Reverend, one of the many people who were interviewed for the documentary. In the last year, we have all learned a lot about how systemic racism is indelibly embedded into the country's roots so it was very interesting to see all of these people literally uprooting grave sites and reclaiming pieces of history that go back all the way to the foundations of America. To hear all these stories and to see how many gravesites that have been discovered then to think about how many are still out there waiting to be found, it's all pretty mind boggling.

It's important that we have a way to remember all of these people who right now are essentially lost because of hat they meant and continue to mean to their families and to the country as a whole. Slavery is an unfortunate part of America letting landmarks literally fade a way as an injustice piled on top of layers of injustice. The directors follow the trail back through history and then bring the story back around to current days touching on BLM, the recent protests, and modern versions of racism and injustice like the George Floyd murder and other similar events.

Unmarked marks its place in history by literally uncovering historical remnants of American slavery and black history. This is about as timely and relevant of a documentary as you will find.


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