The People Speak Premiere

I attended the premiere of The People Speak followed by a reception with the filmmakers and some of the cast at the Rose Theater on November 19th. The entire event lasted 3 and a half hours. The movie was an abridged film adaptation of Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States, with interspersed dramatic monologues of testimonials from real people throughout history. My favorite moment in the film was Kerry Washington’s impersonation of Sojourner Truth’s speech on female suffrage. She talks about how Jesus came from God and a woman. “Men had nothing to do with Him,” she says. Women’s rights is just one of the many social justice topics covered in the film.

What is so moving about both the movie and the book is that they tell history from the people’s point of view. Citizens’ perspectives of history are shown. The objective is to listen to the voices that have been underrepresented in mainstream retellings of history. However, one does need to have a solid grasp of U.S. history in order to truly appreciate the film as well as the book. This movie could be a great supplemental resource for students who already have a good understanding of major events of U.S. history. For example, I would show specific clips of the film to my class that pertain to a certain moment in history that we had recently studied.

I really enjoyed the film as well as the reception afterwards. It was pretty exciting being in the same room with the actors and filmmakers and talking to them about the movie. I encourage everyone to watch the TV premiere of The People Speak on The History Channel this Sunday, December 13th.