Tula: The Revolt (2013) User Reviews

great story

[leonlankate · 5/10 · 4 March 2014]

This is a story of human interest.The film may be weak in some aspects,but based on then real life of a person who fought for himself and his people to have freedom from their cruel oppressors, can only merit thought at how the concept of superiority made the slave owners immune to any sense of humanity.If it wasn't for the uprising in Haiti,no slave would have had the courage to challenge slavery.It came to end too late unfortunately for other islands like Curacao ,but it did end,thanks to people like Tula.Its a story to be watched or read.Are we to ignore history of slavery forever,and criticise those who try to tell these stories for the costumes that the slaves wore as too clean,and one commentator here seems to think,or listen to voices of those who sacrificed themselves for their god given rights ,and the good of others.

Clean slavery

[ckootstra · 3/10 · 12 December 2013]

Being a slave was a clean and easy job in those days. At least that was the only conclusion I can draw after having sat through this screen disaster. Everyone was wearing clean clothes all the time (c'mon guys, dress up, you're on camera !); slaves could wander freely through the woods without being hindered and without getting dirty (or caught for that matter), and they had no trouble adjusting to the lifestyle of their masters (well okay, that was possible). The story had no real beginning or end and when the credits ran, you were just wondering what had been the purpose of it all. Danny Glover must have felt like a stranger amongst this Dutch gang; he certainly looks and sounds that way. What a waste of money and energy !! The only somewhat decent job was done by Jeroen Willems (sad he is not among us anymore); to determine the worst performance is more difficult: so many actors are vying for that slot ! Having to chose I would take Jeroen Krabbe. His Gouverneur was beyond any believability. It was Jeroen Leinders' (were they all chosen for their first name?) first movie. Unless he decides to start following a course, it should be his last.

Amateurish

[sihayes-04139 · 3/10 · 16 February 2022]

Pity. This could have been an excellent film. I guess it had a limited budget. One or two known names acted in this but they failed to lift it. Lighting was inadequate at times and if this was intentional to try and make the film 'dark in nature' it didn't work. Subject matter was interesting but it was difficult to believe some of the characters.

Could have been a great story

[draciron · 4/10 · 22 April 2024]

Man seeking freedom. How do you screw a story like that up? This one managed to do so. It starts with all Whites are bad except one crazy woman, then goes downhill from there. The depiction of a slave worked to death makes about as much sense as a horse being starved to death or car intentionally driven with no oil in the pan. A plantation owner relied on their slaves and would not callously destroy his workforce. The reaction to his death was the real sad part. It was pure Hollywood oh woe is me one minute and 2 minutes later who was that guy? The combat scenes were beyond absurd. Some of the worst fighting scenes I've seen in my life. The dialog didn't even give lip service to the historical period. The zero historical accuracy of the revolt sadly is normal for Hollywood. Tula was neither reluctant or peaceful in his revolt. His revolt was joined by other slave leaders from other plantations. This could have been an interesting story. First if they'd depicted actual living conditions of slaves on the island at the time. Next if they'd even loosely followed the actual events. At the least they could have taken a few minutes to write combat scenes that didn't look like bored re-creationists A little effort on developing characters would have helped. At the end of the movie you wind up not really liking anybody. Everyone is so shallow and the effort of the writer to develop empathy for the revolting slaves just didn't survive the directing. It was like a high school remake of Braveheart set on a small island.

Glover's Labor of Love

[quitwastingmytime · 8/10 · 29 April 2021]

I knew that Danny Glover had been working for years on a project on Toussaint Loverteur (sp?) the heroic slave who defeated Napoleon in Haiti. When that fell through he turned to this smaller scale but no less important story. This was one of the most successful revolts, leading to abolition on the island.

Some of the critical reviews obviously haven't seen it. They complain of it being poorly made, badly acted, or showing slavery as clean and nice. The film is technically competent. It has haunting music, good photography, fine acting from all involved.

And "clean nice slavery?" They clearly didn't see the opening, with beaten and bloody slaves sentenced to brutal deaths by hanging or torture. They clearly didn't see the field scenes, dirty, exhausted slaves in torn clothing literally worked to death.

The film won a number of awards. Worth seeing for anyone with any interest in the subject. Glover can be proud.

I couldn't finish it....

[spencejoshua-22736 · 1/10 · 17 August 2021]

This film had excellent subject matter and fantastic locations........but missed the target. The film did not capture me and resulted in me turning it off after about ten minutes. The main problem is the poor execution on the part of the actors. It felt as if they were not committed to becoming the characters they were depicting. It feels amateurish to me. The character development was lacking. The script didn't feel historically correct. The pace of the film seemed rushed. Maybe I'm being a little too harsh, but I just couldn't get excited about seeing how the main characters arrived to their final destination.

FREEDOM EQUALITY, AND BROTHERHOOD

[nogodnomasters · 8/10 · 8 January 2019]

This film takes place on the island of Curaqao in 1795. We know that the slave revolt is a failure from the opening scene. The movie regresses a couple of weeks to the events leading up to the sentencing. Inspired by the Haitians having a successful slave revolt, Tula believes the slaves on this island are free and coupled with harsh conditions he demands to speak to the governor. This leads to a general uprising.

The film centers on Tula and his inner circle and those that betray him. The film is sad yet at the same time spiritually uplifting. The violence is kept to a minimal, yet doesn't refrain from showing a few scenes. Appears to be suitable for a high school or perhaps even a junior high teaching film.

No f-bombs, sex, or nudity.

One battle for the fight for freedom can lead to many more, even if it is lost

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 18 August 2022]

The Dutch West Indies is the setting of this historical drama set in the late 1700's on the island of Curaçao and deals with riots demanding freedom after learning that slavery has been abolished on other nearby islands. The group of rebels have walked off of their plantations hoping for a peaceful meeting with the governor, but he won't even see them. Of course this leads to increased battles and some surprising support, particularly by a wealthy aging white woman who when asked why she's helping them simply responds "Because it's right."

With a large cast led by Obi Abili as the title character and Danny Glover as his mentor, this is a very touching drama that doesn't just focus on the main issue but the determination to survive a battle that probably can't be won. The government won't free the slaves, but they don't want to kill them either, and it's obvious that they are concerned how the world would react and are too stubborn to face the fact that they were wrong in enslaving these people in the first place. This is just one exposure of the evils of slavery and the inhumanity of those who had slaves but refused to see their actions as anything but their privilege. Quite a stunning movie.