User reviews

"The Lena Baker" story is another tragic tale of many involving whites trampling upon the rights and lives of Black folks. This is about Lena Baker (played by Tischina Arnold) who was imprisoned and repeatedly raped by Elliott Arthur (played by Peter Coyote). After years of such treatment off and on, and no help forthcoming from the law, she shot and killed Elliott Arthur. For that she was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed.

Lena was born in 1900 and executed in 1945 in Georgia. Because of the blind racism of the whites of Georgia no one could possibly conclude that perhaps Lena was being victimized. Furthermore, they couldn't possibly conclude that Lena may have been defending herself when she killed Mr. Arthur (real name Ernest Knight). If only she was afforded the same benefit of the doubt that George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse were.

The story is tragic, sad, infuriating, and heart breaking. I only wish the movie was better. It's a TV movie with a TV movie script and TV movie quality which seriously detracts from the gravity and impact of the events. I don't fault the actors at all, they did their best with what they were given, but Lena and others like her deserve better.

Here's a second, more sober and realistic review.

This film has a very made-for-TV quality, and despite a decent cast, the acting and script is quite plain and corny..

.the music in particular is very hammy in some scenes (clearly the producers and directors thought gospel singing throughout quiet dialog scenes was required to INSTRUCT the audience how to feel - a mark of poorly executed drama). The music cues are horribly instructive and rob most of the scenes of genuine depth.

It's always a shame when a worthwhile story is told so poorly, but this reeks of misconceived earnest intentions. You feel the desperation of the creators to elicit emotion, but it's so bogged down in contrived melodrama it misfires completely and will greatly disappoint anyone looking for an insightful racial drama.

That IMDb score needs to come down a bit closer to reality..it's no Oscar material, that is most certain.

From the perspective of a Christian, I loved the gospel music so much that I felt that the music complimented the movie even more. I am a gospel lover and I would like to know if there is a soundtrack? I also feel that the significance of this movie was missed by some viewers. The church setting and God-Lovers who had no choice but to be disposed to Satan driven sin (rape, alcohol, sex slavery, lying, fornication, murder, racial hatred, lynchings, lust and everything else that is wrong with this world) are all in the Bible and the story line a (real-life movie) of what our ancestors endured during those times were just as real as the nose on our faces. Gospel music - in my opinion- is an expression of God's Holy Bible and how Christians should live their lives. I cried when I saw how our ancestors were treated (like garbage) and the gospel music made it that much reality. Please, Please, produce more movies like this with gospel music. Back in the slavery era, God's Church and gospel music was the only "Peace of mind" that our ancestors had from those who were obviously "satan-deceived." Keep up the excellent work of the truth. Please do not "sugar coat" how things were, if the gospel music had not been added to this story line, especially since this is how it really was, then you would be short-changing Black History and the History of Gospel Music.

A God - Loving Black Woman who Loves her Gospel Music!