Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

ejj1955 I researched this question a few years ago, and here's what I remember about the DNA evidence: it showed that some, but not all, of Sally's children were related to a male Jefferson. Maybe Thomas, maybe another one.And the newspaper reporter who wrote the story was a disappointed office-seeker who had a grudge against Jefferson.Given this, I'm somewhat amused by the vehemence with which both sides defend their point of view: those (few) who proclaim that Jefferson could not have been involved with his slave this way, and those many who not only accept the relationship as proved but go on to state that it either must have been or could not possibly have been a romance.For what it's worth, I think the preponderance of evidence supports that there was a sexual relationship that produced children. Beyond that, I don't know if the 14-year-old Sally fell in love with this remarkable man or if in his private life he was capable of raping his slave. Given that her oldest child wasn't a Jefferson, the "tradition" that their relationship began in Paris seems suspect.Finally, Jefferson himself simply refused to address the embarrassing newspaper reports. Everyone involved is long dead, and we'll probably never know for sure. Such is the nature of history (some of the time).

awaylikethewind I was recently doing research on interracial relationships for my history class. I came across this movie, boy am I glad. Although I am happy the writer of the movie was black, I felt some other issues could've been addressed. As far as Thomas Jefferson having children with Sally Hemings is not far from my mind, seeing he would've been like almost every other slave owner in those days. The relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson is shown as a loving one in this movie. Which I have always felt was very far from the truth, there's no evidence that this relationship was anything more than another slave/master relationship. I did wish that they would've shown one of her children being black, considering 2 or 3 of her children could actually pass for white. Besides those things the movie was great, I loved Sam Neil as Thomas Jefferson, he really out did himself in this movie.

apfraats Although not a fan of one specific genre ,a DRAMA/ROMANCE genre is not my first favor to watch. Started watching the movie didn't get my attention at first and the feeling arose to stop it and look at another movie. Just over 1000 movies waiting to be seen in my DVD-collection, it was very tempting to 'save this one for later'. Finally it was a TV production, so it couldn't be too good, was my reasoning. But I was wrong, and was really wrong. After about 15 minutes, the movie was attracting my attention and I went on seeing it. After 30 minutes 'I was all in it' and really enjoyed it. There is exceptional good acting and a good story line. All characters where 'real' in their acting, contributing to the experience of the story told in the movie. I can't say anything about the historical truth of this movie, but I didn't watch it from that point of view. I watched it to enjoy a good movie and it seemed to be one. So to be short: Try this movie and look at it for a minimum of the first 20 minutes, before deciding to stop, which in my opinion is the wrong thing to do. It's just the habit of having movies catches you in their first minutes. Well, this one surely isn't one of such, but it evolves slowly but surely to a good movie while watching. One important fact to mention is the music used to support the story in the movie. It's an exceptional good choice that was made here. I don't know if the movie has better soundtracks then the version I saw (dutch version) with 2.0 Dolby surround, but surely a well recorded 5.1 or even DTS soundtrack would significant improve the total movie experience. But being a TV production, I doubt there is something better than 2.0 Dolby surround (although you can leave out the 'surround' because it isn't really there). Despite this technical aspect it turned out to be a surprisingly good movie and I was very glad, I DID finish my watching. Believe me, this movie is much better than one might expect. And I can especially recommend this movie for women, cause I think they even more appreciate this movie than the 'we coming from mars'-guys.

carol275 I thoroughly enjoyed this mini series, it was very well written, entertaining and one of the best I have seen. Very historically accurate in terms of what the slaves went through and a good quality production. The entire cast are some of the most talented actors I have seen, no one was a disappointment. Carmen Ejogo portrayed Sally as an intelligent woman and was very convincing and wonderful in her part. I think we will see a lot of her in the future. Sam Neill was also wonderful-based on historical information I believe his portrayal of Jefferson was accurate. Mare Winningham was excellent as always but I enjoyed every actor down to the smallest roles. I wish there were more quality programs like this one on television. The only disappointing part was when it was over.