''Goodbye Uncle Tom'' () is a 1971 Italian mondo

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

co-directed and co-written by

Gualtiero Jacopetti Gualtiero Jacopetti (; 4 September 1919 – 17 August 2011) was an Italian documentary film director. With Paolo Cavara and Franco Prosperi, he is considered the originator of ''mondo films'', also called "shockumentaries". Early life Gualtier ...

and

Franco Prosperi Franco Prosperi (2 September 1926 – 17 October 2004) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, active between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. Career Born in Rome, Prosperi began his career as an assistant director with Mario Bava ...

with music by

Riz Ortolani Riziero Ortolani (; 25 March 192623 January 2014) was an Italian composer, conductor, and orchestrator, predominantly of film scores. He scored over 200 films and television programs between 1955 and 2014, with a career spanning over fifty year ...

. Based on true events, the filmmakers explore antebellum America, using period documents to examine in graphic detail the racist ideology and degrading conditions faced by

Africans The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Sahara ...

under

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. Due to the use of published documents and materials from the public record, it is labeled a documentary, though nearly all footage is restaged using actors.Provocateur Gualtiero Jacopetti Dead at 91: Honoring the Man Behind the Mondo Movies.
Richard Corliss, August 21, 2011.

Production

The film was shot primarily in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, where directors Jacopetti and Prosperi were treated as guests of Haitian dictator

Papa Doc Duvalier Papa is a word used in many languages as an affectionate term for father. Papa or PAPA may refer to: Geography and geology * Papa, Samoa, a village on the island of Savai'i * Papa, Scotland, various islands * Pápa, a town in Hungary *Papa rock ...

. Duvalier supported the filmmakers by giving them diplomatic cars, clearance to film anywhere on the island, as many

extra Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

s as they required, and even a weekly dinner with Duvalier himself. Hundreds of Haitian extras participated in the film's various depictions of the cruel treatment of slaves, as well as white actors portraying historical characters (including

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...

). Scenes were also shot in the U.S. states of

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Release

The film was confiscated in Italy and re-released the following year, 1972, in a cut version bearing the different title ''Zio Tom''. In France, the film was released as ''Les Négriers'', in Germany as ''Addio, Onkel Tom!''

Alternative versions

The directors' cut of ''Addio Zio Tom'' draws parallels between the horrors of slavery and the rise of the Black Power Movement, represented by

Eldridge Cleaver Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote '' Soul on Ice'', a collection of essays that, at the time of i ...

LeRoi Jones Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. He was the author of numerous b ...

Stokely Carmichael Kwame Ture (; born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael; June 29, 1941November 15, 1998) was an American activist who played a major role in the civil rights movement in the United States and the global pan-African movement. Born in Trini ...

, and a few others. The film ends with an unidentified man’s fantasy re-enactment of

William Styron William Clark Styron Jr. (June 11, 1925 – November 1, 2006) was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work. Early life Styron was born in the Hilton Village historic district of Newport News, Virginia, the so ...

's ''

The Confessions of Nat Turner ''The Confessions of Nat Turner'' is a 1968 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by American writer William Styron. Presented as a first-person narrative by historical figure Nat Turner, the novel concerns Nat Turner's Rebellion in Virginia in 1831. ...

.'' This man imagines

Nat Turner Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an enslaved Black carpenter and preacher who led a four-day rebellion of both enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia in August 1831. Nat Turner's Rebellion res ...

's revolt in the present, including the brutal murder of the whites around him, who replace the figures Turner talks about in Styron's novel as the unidentified reader speculates about Turner's motivations and ultimate efficacy in changing the conditions he rebelled against. American distributors felt that such scenes were too incendiary, and forced Jacopetti and Prosperi to remove more than thirteen minutes of footage explicitly concerned with racial politics for American and other Anglophone audiences.

Reception

The film has frequently been criticized as

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

, despite directors Jacopetti and Prosperi's claims to the contrary. In

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

's 1972 review of the shorter American version, he asserts that the directors have "Made the most disgusting, contemptuous insult to decency ever to masquerade as a documentary." He goes on to call the film "cruel

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of Animals *Exploitation of labour **Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery **Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts an ...

", believing that the directors degraded the poor Haitian extras playing slaves by having them enact the extremely dehumanizing situations the film depicts virtually as they occurred.

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

put the film second (behind '' The Last House on the Left'') on his year-end list of what he called the sickest films he saw in 1972. Critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

called the film "the most specific and rabid incitement to race war". The directors denied charges of racism; in the 2003 documentary ''Godfathers of Mondo'' they specifically note that one of their intentions in making ''Addio Zio Tom'' was to "make a new film that would be clearly anti-racist" in response to criticism by Ebert and others over perceived racism in their previous film ''

Africa Addio ''Africa Addio'' (; also known as ''Africa: Blood and Guts'' in the United States and ''Farewell Africa'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1966 Italian Mondo film, mondo documentary film co-directed, co-edited and co-written by Gualtiero Jacopetti an ...

''. The film was a commercial failure. It is now considered a cult classic.Inside the Most Racially Horrifying Movie Ever
Jen Yamato, "The Daily Beast", Sep. 30, 2015 Italian film critic

Marco Giusti Marco Giusti (born 24 December 1953) is an Italian film critic, essayist, television writer and presenter. Life and career The son of a quaestor, Giusti was born in Grosseto and during his early years frequently moved following his father's ...

calls it "not bad" and remembers that the numerous scenes in the nude "made a certain effect back then".

Soundtrack

The film was scored by Italian composer

and is notable for the theme "Oh My Love" sung by

Katyna Ranieri Caterina Ranieri (31 August 1925 – 3 September 2018), known professionally as Katyna Ranieri, was an Italian singer. Biography Ranieri was born in Follonica in 1925. She had her first hit in 1954 at the Sanremo Music Festival with the song ...

, which would later be used in the soundtrack to the film ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" * ...

'' (2011). Ortolani also collaborated with directors Jacopetti and Prosperi on their previous films, ''

Mondo Cane ''Mondo Cane'' (a somewhat coarse Italian expletive, literally ) is a 1962 Italian mondo documentary film and directed by the trio of Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara, and Franco E. Prosperi, with narration by Stefano Sibaldi. The film ...

'', and ''

''.

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Online Trailer (English version)
{{Uncle Tom's Cabin 1971 films 1970s exploitation films Italian drama films 1970s Italian-language films Films about American slavery Films about race and ethnicity Mondo films African-American-related controversies in film Documentary films about slavery in the United States Films directed by Gualtiero Jacopetti Films shot in Haiti Films scored by Riz Ortolani Golan-Globus films 1970s Italian films