It's a 3-parts documentary series that follows the history of the black people in the cinema. They didn't have any chance, they were only at the backdrop. But over years of revolutions, they turn to be at the first shots.
Powerful, sensitive, and fascinating, this docuseries focuses on a serious, important topic, but its talking-head interviews are so lively and fresh that it's a joy to watch instead of ponderous.
The rush to reach the modern era meant significant, unfortunate omissions - perhaps Paul Robeson proved too complex a character to crowbar into the scattershot narrative - but the narrators were still inspiring, their stories indubitably worth hearing.
Black filmmakers have been making these points for decades, and the success of Black art shouldn't be equated to how profitable or relatable it is to white audiences. [It] often fails to tell what feels like an entire story because of this limited focus.
As a documentary about black history in movies reminds us, the Oscars provide only one of the more visible and symbolic manifestations of where and how progress needs to be made.
