Sojourner Truth: I Sell the Shadow

As the first video produced by Women of Diversity Productions, it would be pleasant to report that Sojourner Truth is a promising start for a series highlighting the contributions of American women. Alas, the video falls short in almost every department. Inexplicably presented in the letterboxed format normally reserved for wide-screen epics, the video features actress Kim Russell standing on a porch interpreting Sojourner's words and message, most notably her famous "Ain't I a woman?" speech. Sojourner recalls her hard life as a former slave, an abolitionist, and later as an advocate for women's rights and suffrage. The video skips around, offering glimpses and snippets of Sojourner's life, but never providing a compelling or credible picture of the whole woman. Also, too much of Russell's performance is shot from a distance, and the relative lack of close-ups perhaps forced the actress to give too strident a performance; Russell's portrait of Sojourner lacks both subtlety and dramatic shadings. Not a necessary purchase. A better choice here would be Black Americans of Achievement: Sojourner Truth (VL-5/92). Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)