Rosewood (film)

Infobox_Film
name =Rosewood


caption ="Rosewood" theatrical poster
writer =Gregory Poirier
starring =Jon Voight
Ving Rhames
Don Cheadle
Bruce McGill
Loren Dean
Esther Rolle
Elise Neal
with Robert Patrick
and Michael Rooker
director =John Singleton
producer =Joel Silver
music =John Williams
distributor =Warner Bros.
released =February 21, 1997
runtime =140 mins.
language =English
budget =$31,000,000
imdb_id =0120036

"Rosewood" is a 1997 film, starring Ving Rhames as a fictional character who travels to the town of Rosewood, Florida, United States, and becomes a witness to the 1923 Rosewood massacre. Also starring was Don Cheadle as Sylvester, a non-fictional character who also became witness to the atrocities, and Jon Voight, as a white store owner who inhabits a village near Rosewood. The three characters become entangled in a desperate attempt to save whomever they can from the rage of the racist whites of Rosewood. The director was John Singleton.

Due to gore, violence, a sexual episode, and a profusive usage of racial slurs and curses, the film was given an MPAA rating of R. The film did better with critics [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/p/john_singleton/] than any John Singleton film since "Boyz N the Hood". Despite that, the film was not a commercial success and was unable to earn the $30 million budget back.

The difficult subject matter (a white-led massacre of blacks) made it hard for the film to immediately gain widespread appeal.

There was, and remains, considerable debate as to how closely the film follows the actual historical account of the destruction of Rosewood and surrounding events, which is not surprising given the debates surrounding the details of the actual massacreFact|date=September 2007. In one scene, Ving Rhames fights off a white mob with pistols — this never happened. The siege of the Carrier house "did" happen. Esther Rolle plays a murder victim of a white mob. This was her third to her last acting role before she died.

See also

* "Banished (film)"

External links

*
* [http://movies.warnerbros.com/rosewood/main.html Rosewood movie website]
* [http://www.displaysforschools.com/history.html Rosewood display for schools]