Historical Context
Many historical events have been made into historical films; however, these films often tend to misrepresent the events that took place. One such event would be the Transatlantic Slave Trade – also known as the triangular trade – which occurred between Europe, Africa, and America. These trading voyages began as early as the seventeenth century. In 1807, Britain abolished slavery, though many slave voyages continued during the nineteenth century. Despite slavery’s large role in Britain’s history, it receives no attention. Many films based on this historical event were released 150 years after Britain’s abolition. In the Twentieth century, Tamango, Slaves, and Cobra Verde were released. The Twenty-First Century saw the release of Amazing Grace, The Last Slave, and 12 Years a Slave. This research paper aims to show how more Twentieth century films on the Transatlantic Slave Trade are historically accurate than Twenty-First century films.
How historically accurate are Twentieth Century films on the Transatlantic Slave Trade?
From the mid-Twentieth century, films featuring the Transatlantic Slave Trade were released. Tamango, Slaves, and Cobra Verde, released in the Twentieth century, depict more historical accuracies than inaccuracies.
In 1958, John Berry directed the French film Tamango – the first film to depict the Transatlantic Slave Trade, particularly the African side (Harris, 2007). Tamango failed to capture the origins behind African enslavement since the African experience remains in the film’s first few minutes (Harris, 2007). Tamango depicts both historical inaccuracies and historical accuracies. For example, the inter-racial love triangle depicts how elders viewed such relations with disgust (Harris, 2007). In contrast, the female characters’ central role in the rebellions onboard depicts historical accuracy since females often knew crucial information that would help the rebellious enslaved individuals to escape (Stevenson, 2018). Female characters in the film highlight the Maroon Society’s work, especially key figures like Queen Nanny, La Virreina Juana, and Nansi Wiggins, who did not stop fighting for their freedom (Landers, 2013). Despite females existing as minorities, Tamango accurately highlights their central roles in the slave trade.
In 1969, Herbert Biberman’s film Slaves was released (Huelsbeck, 2010). Biberman hoped that Slaves would help viewers to understand America’s history as he portrayed slavery in its true form (Pinkowitz, 2019). For example, Biberman depicted how enslaved individuals were thrown overboard; unfortunately, these scenes outraged viewers, causing the film to raise controversy (IMDB, n.d.). Consequently, the film has become forgotten about in today’s world since the only way to access it survives in the University of California, Los Angeles’ Film & Television Archive (Huelsbeck, 2010). Despite Slaves showing historical accuracies, the film reflects how viewers prefer to watch something light-hearted/humorous over something that sheds light on horrific historical accuracies.
In 1987, Werner Herzog’s Cobra Verde was released (Harms, 2007). Inspired by “the Brazilian-born slave trader Francisco Felix de Souza”, in “Bruce Chatwin’s novel The Viceroy of Whydah”, Cobra Verde tells Manoel da Silva’s story (Harms, 2007, 74). Da Silva’s portrayal depicts some accuracies with de Souza. For instance, the Dahomean king arrests da Silva in the film to force him to turn into an agent in the illegal slave trade, which de Souza experienced in real life (Harms, 2007). Other similarities include their involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, such as loading chained enslaved individuals onto slave ships, helping the king’s brother seize the throne, as well as serving as the Portuguese Fort’s governor (Harms, 2007). Although Cobra Verde depicts a fictional film, these specific scenes reflect historical accuracies faced by enslaved individuals.
These films show how more historical accuracies are depicted than inaccuracies. Tamango depicts both historical accuracies and inaccuracies, whereas Slaves and Cobra Verdedepict historically accurate films. In an age of globalisation and greater resources, more historically accurate films are expected to be developed in the Twenty-First century. Interestingly, that is not the case.
How historically accurate are Twenty-FirstCentury films on the Transatlantic Slave Trade?
As 2007 marked Britain’s bicentenary since abolishing slave trade, the Twenty-First century saw more films release. Amazing Grace, The Last Slave, and 12 Years a Slave were released where more historical inaccuracies were depicted than historical accuracies. This is interesting because these films were released in a century with greater access to resources, yet they fail to accurately represent the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace, based on William Wilberforce’s role in Britain abolishing the slave trade also included key figures like John Newton, Thomas Clarkson as well as Olaudah Equiano (Walden Media, n.d.). The film was originally released in 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival with a cinematic release in 2007 to mark the bicentenary (Ball, 2013). Apted takes a different approach in his film as the characters mostly talk about the horrors, rather than scenes depicting them (Brown, 2014). The scene where Equiano removes his jacket to reveal his branded chest to Wilberforce reflects the only historical accuracy in the film (Ball, 2013). However, everything else in the film remains historically inaccurate as Apted humourizes the horrific experiences by having “Great White Men” narrate them (Brown, 2014). These figures’ experiences with religion significantly differ in real life as well as in the film. For example, the film shows Newton converting to Christianity after writing the hymn Amazing Grace, where he becomes “a sackcloth-wearing penitent”, whereas in real life he continued his work as a slave trader after converting (Tunzelmann, 2015). The inaccurate instance reflects how Apted does not stay true to the facts in Amazing Grace.
In 2007, Julia Harrington’s The Last Slave, was also released to celebrate Britain’s Bicentenary. In 2005, Paul Kerr had the idea to retell Britain’s history of slavery by emphasising the last legal slaving voyage through oral histories (Kerr, 2009). Kerr reached out to David Monteith when researching the families involved in the last voyage; however, the company he worked for declined to use oral voices to retell history (Kerr, 2009). Instead, they told him to focus solely on a single person involved in the voyage; Monteith’s “great, great, great, great grandfather” (Kerr, 2009). The Last Slave constructed a series retracing family ancestry without going into historical details, reflecting how it failed to provide a historically accurate account of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Steven McQueen’s 2013 film 12 Years a Slave – based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 testimonial with the same name – depicts how a captured, free African American became forced into slavery on the Southern American plantations (Brown & Davis, 2014). While reading Northup’s testimonial, McQueen saw the details, adventure, horror as well as humanity reading like a script which inspired him to create the film (Kellner, 2017). McQueen accurately captures what working in the plantations looked like. For example, he depicts enslaved individuals harvesting cotton while singing on the plantations, which gives insight into something that other films have failed to do (West, 2014). McQueen also captures how buyers purchased these enslaved individuals since men as well as their children, nakedly approached them so buyers could determine if they could endure longer voyages, while buyers judged women’s bodies for more breeding (Brown & Davis, 2014). Consequently, causing children to separate from their mothers (Brown & Davis, 2014). McQueen thus provides the most historically accurate film in the Twenty-First century.
These films show how more historical inaccuracies are depicted than accuracies. Amazing Grace and The Last Slave portray more historical inaccuracies through the character’s backgrounds in their stories, whereas 12 Years a Slave includes historically accurate information. However, relevant comparisons need to be made to show whether Twentieth century or Twenty-First century films are more historically accurate.
Are Twentieth Century or Twenty-First Century films on the Transatlantic Slave Trade historically accurate?
In conclusion, Twentieth century films are more historically accurate than Twenty-First century films. Tamango portrays both accurate and inaccurate historical accounts. On the other hand, Slaves and Cobra Verdeportray specifically accurate instances. In comparison, Amazing Grace and The Last Slave portray more historical inaccuracies through the character’s backgrounds in their stories. 12 Years a Slave is the only historically accurate film that was released in the Twenty-First century. Thus, showing how films released in the Twentieth Century are more accurate than those released in the Twenty-First Century. This is interesting because we would expect more historically accurate films to be made in a Century where more digitalised historical records and scholarly articles exist on the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
References
‘Amazing Grace’, Walden Media; https://www.walden.com/films/amazinggrace/; last accessed 5 September 2022.
‘Slaves (1969)’, IMDb.com; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064997/; last accessed 5 September 2022.
Ball, Lucy, ‘Memory, Myth and Forgetting: The British Transatlantic Slave Trade’, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom), September 2013.
Brown, Anthony L., and Christopher Davis, ‘Race and Historical Memory on the Silver Screen: A Movie Review of 12 Years a Slave’, Theory and Research in Social Education, Vol. 42, no. 2, May 2014, pp.275-279.
Brown, Tom, ‘Consensual Pleasures: Amazing Grace, Oratory and the Middlebrow Biopic’, in Tom Brown and Belen Vidal (ed.), The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture (New York: Routledge, 2014), pp.118-139.
Harms, Robert, ‘The Transatlantic Slave Trade in Cinema’, in Vivian-Bickford Smith and Richard Mendelsohn (ed.), Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen (Oxford: James Currey, 2007), pp.59-81.
Harms, Robert, ‘The Transatlantic Slave Trade in Cinema’, in Vivian-Bickford Smith and Richard Mendelsohn (ed.), Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen (Oxford: James Currey, 2007), pp.59-81.
Huelsbeck, Mary K., ‘(Re)Discovering a Forgotten Film: Slaves and the Robert Kya-Hill Collection’, Black Camera: The Newsletter of the Black Film Centre/Archives, Vol. 1, no. 2, 2010, pp.167-174.
Kellner, Douglas, ‘The Horrors of Slavery and Modes of Representation in Amistad and 12 Years a Slave’, in Toby Miller (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Global Popular Culture (New York: Routledge, 2017), pp.207-228.
Kerr, Paul, ‘The Last Slave (2007): The Genealogy of a British Television History Programme’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 29, no. 3, September 2009, pp.381-397.
Landers, Jane, ‘Founding Mothers: Female Rebels in Colonial New Granada and Spanish’, The Journal of African American History, Vol. 98, no. 1, January 2013, pp.7-23.
Pinkowitz, Jacqueline, ‘Revising Slavery, Reissuing Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Interracial Sex and Black Resistance in the Black Power Era Slavery Exploitation Film Cycle’, Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 52, no. 4, August 2019, pp.862-889.
Shohat, Ella, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media Second edition (New York: Routledge, 2014) p.204.
Stevenson, Brenda E., ‘Filming Black Voices and Stories: Slavery on America’s Screens’, The Journal of the Civil War era, Vol. 98, no. 3, September 2018, pp.488-520.
Tunzelmann, Alex von, ‘Is Amazing Grace’s take on the slave trade historically accurate?’, The Guardian; https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/19/is-amazing-grace-film-historically-accurate-william-wilberforce-abolition-slavery; last accessed 5 September 2022.
West, Emily, ‘Historian at the Movies: 12 Years a Slave reviewed’, History Extra; https://www.historyextra.com/period/historian-at-the-movies-12-years-a-slave-reviewed/;last accessed 5 September 2022.
Himani Chauhan is an International Relations & History graduate and is currently pursuing a Masters of Migration Studies from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). She comes from a family of immigrants which has shaped her experiences, views, and interests in wanting to further explore and work in this area of study. Her area of interest includes – Migration, History and Human Rights.