Editors’ Note: You may notice I am adding a new category to the reviews I publish- TV Series. Fifteen years ago I dismissed TV as low form art, but since the advent of The Sopranos on HBO, it is my opinion that TV had emerged as significant form. Indeed, we go to movies less and less given all the high quality offerings on Netflix, Prime, Hulu and the premium networks. Over the last five years , we have watched some extraordinary shows and performances on this form of serial television. So, I’m adding that to the cache, highlighting recent seasons that we have comped of worthwhile TV watching. Please don’t throw rocks at me…
Stu’s Reviews
Genre: TV (Netflix)
Grade: B+
Notable People: Michaela Coel, Noma Dumezwini, Lucina Mzamati and John Goodman, Developed by: Hugo Blick
Title: Black Earth Rising
Review: Extraordinarily impactful drama about the Rwandan genocide of the early 90s. Full of political intrigue, government’s manipulation and the sad story of hate and aggression. Very fine African cast and the story floats back and forth from Africa to France and England. A vastly slimmed down Goodman is excellent and pulls it all together. Coel is wonderful (check out those eyes) in the lead role as a young genocide survivor working as a legal investigator in London tracking down the war criminals . The show is authentic and hits you over the head informatively, though it is quite hard to watch this horrific story and very slow. Very challenging plot to keep up with.