I’m disappointed to see the low ratings (2 1/2 stars) for this important, effective and unique early political documentary. The filmmakers labored for 5 years, scraping money together to shoot the picture episode by episode. It’s not great classic cinema by any means, but there’s a lot of heart in this film and it shows us a slice of American society of the 1930s/40s that’s hard to access these days. Robeson’s narration is flawless and I enjoyed the focus on ordinary everyday people, how they lived at that time. For a more extensive review, visit my blog:

http://criterionreflections.blogspot.com/2009/05/native-land-1942-373.html