Rosewood (film)

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Rosewood
Rosewood theatrical poster
Directed by	John Singleton
Produced by	Joel Silver
Written by	Gregory Poirier
Starring	Jon Voight Ving Rhames Don Cheadle Bruce McGill
Music by	John Williams
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	February 21, 1997
Running time	140 mins.
Language	English
Budget	$31,000,000
IMDb profile

Rosewood is a 1997 film, starring Ving Rhames as a fictional character who travels to the town of Rosewood, Florida and becomes a witness to the 1923 massacre. Also starring was Don Cheadle as Sylvester, a non-fictional character who also became witness to the atrocities, and Jon Voight, as a white store owner who inhabits a village near Rosewood. The three characters become entangled in a desperate attempt to save whomever they can from the rage of the racist whites of Rosewood. The director was John Singleton.

Audio sample composed by John Williams:

"Look Down, Lord" (1997) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Rosewood
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Due to gore, violence, a sexual episode, and a profusive usage of racial slurs and curses, the film was given an MPAA rating of R. The film did better with critics [1] than any John Singleton film since Boyz N the Hood. Despite that, the film was not a commercial success and was unable to earn the $30 million budget back. Detractors of the film claim that this is understandable, arguing that Singleton's direction was mediocre, the child acting unconvincing, and the characters shallow. The difficult subject matter (a white-led massacre of blacks) also made it hard for the film to immediately gain widespread appeal. There was, and remains, considerable debate as to how closely the film follows the actual historical account of the destruction of Rosewood and surrounding events.