Review of The Green Pastures

It seems almost incredible that this film was made in 1936, when the almost invariable tendency in Hollywood was to portray negroes as (perhaps) lovable, but mostly inept, submissive, rather primitive creatures, good for a laugh and musical entertainment but for not much else. Here we see, in primitive guise but with great delicacy, feeling, seriousness and depth (even the difficult theological problem of the doubting God is touched on towards the end) the events of the New Testament as seen through the eyes of negro believers. This is one of the very few movies I have insisted on that my children see as part of their education, and this should apply to many grownups too.