ShareThisA capsule look at films and DVDs to enhance the observance of Black History Month."PRINCE AMONG SLAVES" (PBS Home Video, $24.99, not rated, available Feb. 12;): This excellent film is about a West African prince, Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori, who was captured by slavers near the Atlantic coast of Africa in 1788, transported to the West Indies and then sold into slavery on a small farm in Mississippi."THE ULTIMATE BLACK HISTORY COLLECTION" (Six discs, St. Clair Vision, $24.98, not rated): The 47 programs included here range from five- to 90-minute documentaries and interviews that cover African American history from the Civil War through today. "THE LEADERS: BREAKING RACIAL BARRIERS IN THE NFL" (Warner Home Video, $19.98, not rated): Today, 65 percent of the players in the National Football League are African American, but this fine new DVD from NFL Films puts the spotlight on the African American trailblazers -- men like Fritz Pollard, who in the 1920s was both a star player and coach in the fledgling NFL before the league banned black players in 1934, and Marion Motley, Bill Willis, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, who integrated pro football in 1946 -- a full year before Jackie Robinson joined baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers."BLACK ATHLETES IN FILM" (St. Clair Vision, $9.98, not rated): Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis were among the greatest athletes of the 20th century, but as actors, they make Jim Brown look like Denzel Washington. Still, the three low-budget movies included in this set are straightforward efforts that illustrate the obstacles they each had to overcome on their respective climbs to the top in baseball and boxing."MURDER IN MISSISSIPPI" (Warner Home Video, $14.97, not rated): This 1990 made-for-TV movie about the 1964 murders of civil rights workers James Chaney (Blair Underwood), Mickey Schwerner (Tom Hulce) and Andrew Goodman (Josh Charles) isn't great, spending too much time on Schwerner's relationship with his wife (played by Jennifer Grey) and too little on the serious issues involved.Other recommended films for Black History Month:-- "Matewan" (1987): John Sayles wrote and directed this drama about a conflict between black and white coal miners in the 1920s.-- "Daughters of the Dust" (1991): Julie Dash's film concerns five African American women living on the sea islands near the coast of Georgia in 1902.-- "Devil in a Blue Dress" (1995): Denzel Washington starred as Easy Rawlins, a private investigator in 1948 Los Angeles, in Carl Franklin's underrated adaptation of Walter Mosley's novel.-- "4 Little Girls" (1997): Spike Lee made this powerful documentary about the infamous 1963 Birmingham, Ala., church bombing.-- "Boycott" (2001): The best of the feature films on Martin Luther King Jr. is Clark Johnson's 2001 HBO movie about the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, starring Jeffrey Wright as the young King.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Films and DVDs for Black History Month
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