That was a heavy ride! I would encourage everyone to watch this limited series. It's one of the best I've seen in recent years. On every level! Cinematography, performances and especially the sound design which I wasn't expecting due to the shows topic! Masterfully crafted, intense, heavy, necessary!
I'm german, so I'm looking into this story from the outside. (even though germans obviously had similar problems in this era and especially later)
But I think with this series, I have gotten the best impression of black peoples' lives in this era and how their story continues throughout today.
I have not read the book, but the concept of an underground railroad is genius. Connecting different states and by that also different types of racism. In the show it is made clear, that this railroad didn't exist in reality. Under ground it almost feels like a dream, which it unfortunately was. But I also felt that this show was giving the black community so much dignity by implementing this into the story. To me it felt a lot like they were building a foundation of this country down there, which was just powerful to see.
I always thought about America as a whole. The "United States" of America. Turns out: Life in the different states that are even right next to each other, was quite different (duh). The main thing that these states (that were shown) "united", was basically some form of racism.
That's obviously not all, but that's what this show focuses on. And that is heartbreaking and horrible to see.
Yes, this show is more of a slow burn, but the emotions I've gotten from this type of pacing were truly worth it. It is not an easy watch, but I strongly believe, that not everything should be an easy watch. And this shouldn't be one either.
Go watch it!
Oh and I wrote this right after finishing the show. So I'm still thinking about it. These are just my first impressions I could turn into words. :smile:
