I have mixed feelings about this film. First off, like one reviewer, I was surprised at the topless natives. I would have thought the censors would have cut that out. Paul Robeson played a man who made himself a chief so he could run a tribe. In the movie, only the British could authorize a man to become a Chief. I guess the natives were not authorized to make their own Chief--I thought that was strange! Even stranger, a British authorized Chief had to be given a medal on a chain to wear around his neck--kind of what a rapper would wear today. This medal indicated an authorized Chief. Sandy did try to rule in a fair manner, learned native customs, and learned some native languages. I did dislike how the natives had to call the British Lord and to act like children. The British treated the natives like children. The part that Robeson played was of an extremely smart man. Everything the British told him to do after making him Chief he had already thought of and done on his own. The look on Robeson's face was of a man purposely acting like a child while all the time he was ten jumps ahead of the white man. The look on the British was he knew Robeson was smart and Robeson knew the British knew but each had to play their own part. I thought the movie was worth watching.
Review of Sanders of the River
