Mama Flora's Family (1998)

Cicely Tyson is one of the world's greatest actresses!

Cicely Tyson is one of the greatest actresses in the world at least in my opinion. In this film, she carries elder Flora Henning Palmer with grace, dignity, class, strength and beauty despite the obstacles that her character has to face such as the cold-blooded murder of her husband as he was killed by white men for simply stealing cotton and they get away with it. The actress who plays young FLora does an excellent job in bringing the character to life. I believe it is Erika Alexander and she is fantastic as the mother, daughter, and sister who leaves her family behind in small town Mississippi after the birth of her baby that was ripped from her arms by his father. Della Reese has a small but unforgettable role as the grandmother Nana who is cared for by Flora. When Flora rejects her employer's advances, she is dismissed and sent home in disgrace where she give birth to a boy months later. Flora has known poverty almost her entire life. She goes to Baltimore to save her granddaughter played by Queen Latifah and her great-grandson. She begins to tell the story of her life such as the egg that was hers. There are brilliant scenes mostly because of Cicely Tyson's ability to capture the moment and scene. She sends chills down my spine because she is so brilliant in any role that she takes including the role of Flora. Any other actress could have done satisfactory but Cicely always adds another level of depth to the character and the role itself. She should have won an Emmy for this performance easily. July 14, 2008

Mama Flora's Family

A excellent movie! Cicely Tyson is a superb actress and has never failed to amaze me with her talents. This show is so heart warming! Hubby & I both loved it. May 2, 2008

I Love It!!!

I bought this movie to watch for a project in school. I'm so happy I selected this movie because I was completely captivated from beginning to end, which made it a lot easier to write out my five page paper. October 30, 2007

Stereotypes abound in the fly-by epic of Mama Flora's Family

MAMA FLORA'S FAMILY is a sweeping chronicle of seventy years in the life and descendants of one Flora Henning Palmer. Cicely Tyson who seems to be forever cast in these roles portrays the adult Flora, a woman who has survived prejudice from her own people, the hard and unfair life of sharecropping,the removal of her first newborn son of a "high yellow" plantation owner's son,the growing up of her children, the murder of her husband at the hands of white men,the inner conflicts of her own children and her ever present faith that gives her the inner fortitude to carry on.

This is typically HALLMARK HALL OF FAME material made for television. The script is based upon some true characters from author of ROOTS Alex Haley's life.Unfortunately, the dialogue is pretty inane and the plot is formulaically predictable.MAMA FLORA'S does not have at all the intensity of ROOTS and seems very jammed into 140 minutes.Scenes and years fly by without proper time for real character development or time to digest anything.It seems that the writers seemed intent on cramming in 70 years of history without allowing much character conflict. What is there is very contrived despite all noble efforts to handle a very necessary subject.The talents of Queen Latifah, Blair Underwood and Mario Van Peebles are truly wasted in such a sanitized screenplay. The action and characters feel forced and contrived. Only Erika Alexander as the young woman Flora is allowed to show any depth of feeling in this "chock-full-get-it-all-in" made-for-television drama.

HALLMARK lovers will adore this production.Everything is nice and tidy and "safe" in this 1998 melodrama epic.Anyone that demands more from scripts and actors will look elsewhere.One viewing will suffice.

Better and more satisfying companion films would be WHEN WE WERE COLORED, THE COLOR PURPLE,BELOVED and THE GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI. July 24, 2007

Great Movie

This was a great movie all the way thru. It was a little long but worth watching. I loved the cast, many of the great actors are in this movie. Even though this film was not based on any one persons life, you will find a bit of history and a bit of a reminder of how close our black families can be. July 5, 2006

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