Roots: The Gift (1988)

US:: PG Drama History TV Movie

In December 1775, Cletus Moyer is a free black Northerner in colonial America, helping slaves escape captivity. In the days just prior to Christmas, a group of bounty hunters captures Moyer. Because of his capture, dozens of slaves who have already left their plantations are in danger of being captured as well. Moyer implores two slaves from a nearby plantation to take his place: Kunta Kinte, a Mandinka in his mid-twenties who was captured in what is now Gambia, and Fiddler, an elderly man who was born into slavery. Kunta is eager to help (and to escape himself), but Fiddler is unwilling, fearful of the consequences if they are caught.

Updated May 23 2020

Releases:

US -

1988-12-11

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Keywords:

holiday slavery freedom racism captive

FACTS

Runtime: 100 mins Rating: 6.7

Cast

Avery Brooks

Cletus Moyer

LeVar Burton

Kunta Kinte

John McMartin

Edmund Parker, Sr.

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Fiddler

Kate Mulgrew

Hattie Carraway

Ernest Harden Jr.

Nick

Tim Russ

Marcellus

Michael Learned

Amelia