Summaries

Writer James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House.

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.—Jwelch5742

Through Samuel L. Jackson's familiar voice, Raoul Peck's bold and brutally honest documentary animates the crisp and noble words of the African-American writer, civil rights activist, poet, and thinker, James Baldwin. Expressing bitter truths while documenting centuries of covert or unapologetic racism, Baldwin's uncompleted thirty-page manuscript, "Remember this House", was meant to be the sadly veracious chronicle of the American history, through the intertwined stories of the fallen heroes and assassinated friends: Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X. Is James Baldwin's complex endeavour to document the hopelessness of the black people still relevant today? Are we doomed to repeat the same calamitous mistakes of an ignoble past?—Nick Riganas

Based on Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House - a stirring, personal account of the lives and deaths of his friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. - acclaimed director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States, using meticulously assembled archival footage and driven by stirring voiceover narration from Samuel L. Jackson.

Details

Keywords
  • african american
  • police brutality
  • racism
  • african american history
  • civil rights
Genres
  • History
  • Documentary
Release date Feb 16, 2017
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) PG-13
Countries of origin United States France Belgium Switzerland
Language English French
Production companies Artémis Productions Velvet Film Velvet Films

Box office

Gross US & Canada $7123919
Opening weekend US & Canada $686378
Gross worldwide $8345298

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 33m
Color Color Black and White
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

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