Excellent and moving

Rating: 9/10 (6 September 2014)

This very ambitious movie succeeds on most counts. It is artistically admirable, beautiful, and moving.
It succeeds excellently as eye-candy, giving us first-class costumes, sets, and makeup. Those who have wanted to revisit the megapolis of Blade Runner will not be disappointed. The period sets and costumes are a little less good - accurate, but without the strong impression of time that the very best period productions leave. It succeeds as a wow vehicle for the actors, especially Halle Berry, although the characters are a bit lacking in complexity. It is perhaps more story-driven than it is character-driven.
It succeeds, but not completely, in being deep and thought-provoking. It doesn't really succeed in demonstrating its theme that the actions of people in different times are connected. But it is a stirring meditation on how slavery recurs at different times and on the lives and sacrifices of those who fight it.
Well worth seeing and a movie that I will revisit many times.