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Roots
 
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Roots

Starring: John Amos, Ed Asner Director: Marvin J. Chomsky, David Greene
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 74.98
Price: CDN$ 56.49 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
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Frequently Bought Together

Roots + Roots: The Next Generations + Alex Haley's Queen
Total List Price: CDN$ 180.94
Price For All Three: CDN$ 137.47

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  • This item: Roots DVD ~ Marvin J. Chomsky

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    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

  • Roots: The Next Generations DVD ~ Georg Stanford Brown

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  • Alex Haley's Queen DVD ~ John Erman

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What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

Roots
69% buy the item featured on this page:
Roots 4.5 out of 5 stars (62)
CDN$ 56.49
Roots: The Complete Collection
21% buy
Roots: The Complete Collection 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
CDN$ 93.49
North and South: The Complete Collection
6% buy
North and South: The Complete Collection 5.0 out of 5 stars (7)
CDN$ 59.99
Alex Haley's Queen
2% buy
Alex Haley's Queen
CDN$ 24.99

Product Details


Product Description

Amazon.com Essential Video

From the moment the young Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) is stolen from his life and ancestral home in 18th-century Africa and brought under inhumane conditions to be auctioned as a slave in America, a line is begun that leads from this most shameful chapter in U.S. history to the 20th-century author Alex Haley, a Kinte descendant. The late Haley's acclaimed book Roots was adapted into this six-volume television miniseries, which was a widely watched phenomenon in 1977. The programs cover several generations in the antebellum South and end with the story of "Chicken" George, a freed slave played by Ben Vereen whose family feels the agony of entrenched racism and learns to fight it. Between the lives of Kunta and George, we meet a number of memorable characters, black and white, and learn much about the emotional and physical torments of slavery, from beatings and rapes to the forced separation of spouses and families. Nothing like this had ever confronted so many mainstream Americans when the series was originally broadcast, and the extent to which the country was nudged a degree or two toward enlightenment was instantly obvious. Roots still has that ability to open one's eyes, and engage an audience in a sweeping, memorable drama at the same time. --Tom Keogh


On the DVD

cc
All new 2007 documentary - Crossing Over: How Roots Captivated an Entire Nation
Roots: One Year Later - hosted by Louis Gossett Jr.
Cast/crew commentaries with video option

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Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Roots: The Next Generations

Roots: The Next Generations

DVD ~ Georg Stanford Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars (6)  CDN$ 55.99
Alex Haley's Queen

Alex Haley's Queen

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CDN$ 24.99
Thorn Birds

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Roots-Thirtieth Anniversary Edition: The Saga of an American Family

Roots-Thirtieth Anniversary Edition: The Saga of an American Family

by Alex Haley
4.8 out of 5 stars (123)  CDN$ 15.70
North and South: The Complete Collection

North and South: The Complete Collection

5.0 out of 5 stars (7)  CDN$ 59.99
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Customer Reviews

62 Reviews
5 star:
 (46)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (62 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Subititles Are Broken, Feb 2 2002
By Mike Robinson (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
Regardless of whether or not you turn subtitles off
in the menus, subtitles will come back on within seconds
of returning to the movie.

The DVD's have totally flawed menus.

The production of the movie itself is awesome, but the schmuck that designed the menu wrappers should be unemeployed. It makes the DVD set unuseable.

Save your money, or buy the VHS, because the DVD is broken.
What a shame.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Very desapointing !, May 10 2009
This product is of such bad quality that I had to return it twice and even the third copy did not work properly !
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4.0 out of 5 stars Alex Haley's epic novel turns into a great mini series!,, Jun 27 2007
By Jenny J.J.I. "A New Yorker" (That Lives in Northern Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
I just had seen Roots saga on DVD. For me it's the first time I've seen it since 1977. I watched it within a day and came away from it moved and intrigued. Roots is a true classic and one of my favorite books. The miniseries is the best program I have ever seen. Kunta was my favorite character in the book as well.

Even though the young Kunta Kinte is only in the first two episodes, LeVar Burton is what made the show for me. Levar Burton is a revelation and it surprises me that he isn't doing more movies. He reminded me of those silent film stars who show with their eyes. The rest of the actors performed their characters just as well, and it gave me an impression of them playing their characters with the whole of their hearts. In this story Kunta is a good, brave young man who loves his village, his family and Allah. He is only 17 and has just completed manhood training and dreams of having a family of his own; the young warrior is out gathering food for his family when he hears a twig snap and turns to see a white man rushing him. Haley gets inside Kunta's mind and you feel his horror. Kunta fights bravely, he fights like a wild animal, but is overpowered and taken captive and then brutally abducted and put on a slave ship. Haley's book was so much more graphic; it showed scenes the TV show couldn't. To really grasp Kunta's nightmare, you need to read the book. The story eventually follows 200 yrs. of the descendants of this family who's strong will and striving finally brings them to Justice and Freedom.

I think that different directors were assigned to different movies in the series... which could be the reason why movie began to grow weak after Kunta Kinte leaves the storyline. I thought the beginning was rather powerful... displaying the savagery of the white man's actions... entering the peaceful villages in Africa and pulling everybody out in shackles onto their ships' dark and musty cargo holds, and slowly, try to bring the main character into submission once he arrives in America. The rest is...Watchable... but has much less to offer than the first 2. This film is history, it has held up well over almost 30 years since it was originally televised. Racism is still rampant, and not just in the South. By being informed it helps each of us to have compassion and to inventory our beliefs and question our teachings.
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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Drama Series!
I watched this television series many years ago and I can still remember how sad and upset I was after viewing each episodes, but again, nothing funny can come out of slavery and... Read more
Published on April 24 2007 by D. Landry

5.0 out of 5 stars Roots
We purchased this as we faintly remembered watching this when it originally aired almost 20 or so years ago. After watching it again, I highly recommed it to anyone. Read more
Published on Aug 13 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars I just bought it...
I live in the UK but a friend is over in Canada visiting so I took the oppourtunity to get Roots as it is not available in the UK. Read more
Published on Aug 2 2004 by Vinoba Moorthy

5.0 out of 5 stars Really sad!
All though i only saw first part of these mini-series it's really sad.How kuntah kinte and some other blacks were forced to be in a slaver,get sold to plantation owners and... Read more
Published on May 22 2004 by Stacey

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny & Dramatic
I liked the movie. I mean, I'm kind of young but I really liked the movie. It was funny too. In the way it was funny was when like, they talk in these Southern accents when they... Read more
Published on April 30 2004 by Rocha

5.0 out of 5 stars Great educational series
This is truly one of the great epic mini-series of all time. This series caused me to do research of my own. Read more
Published on Feb 10 2004 by Elsorn

5.0 out of 5 stars ROOTS!!!! A SAGA FOR EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE
Soon after finishing reading the book by Alex Haley. I wanted to get the DVD and check whether or not the depiction was exactly right or not. Read more
Published on Jan 23 2004 by Mohamed Shams

5.0 out of 5 stars 200yrs,12yrs,2yrs,8nites= Greatest TV Mini-Series now on DVD
200 years to unfold, 12 years of research to discover, 2 years to create, 8 nights to make television history. Read more
Published on Aug 2 2003 by forrie

5.0 out of 5 stars Historic broadcast
I just re-watched this historic production after 26 years, and was again amazed at the enduring power and quality of the story. Read more
Published on Jul 16 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Tale
I was just a little kid when Roots originally aired, but I still remember how enthralled I was . . . Read more
Published on Jul 3 2003 by eltayo9

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