''The Least Among You'' is a film based on the true story of Presbyterian Rev. Dr. Charles Marks' formative years, written and directed by first time writer/director Mark Young. It explores issues of self-determination in the face of systemic racial persecution in the United States in the mid-1960s.

Plot

In the opening minutes of the film, Richard Kelly (played by Cedric Sanders), is behind bars, having been arrested during the infamous

Watts Riots The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion or Watts Uprising, took place in the Watts neighborhood and its surrounding areas of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. The riots were motivated by anger at the racist and abus ...

for allegedly assaulting a police officer. Though he maintains that he is innocent, Kelly is convicted. At his sentencing he is presented with a choice between serving jail time and serving probation for one year as a student at an all-white Christian theological seminary. Kelly faces overt hostility from his fellow students and confusion over his place in the school from the faculty. He has the support and encouragement from the President of the Seminary (played by

William Devane William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera ''Knots Landing'' (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas '' 24'' (2001–2010) and '' ...

), up until he begins to attempt to introduce institutional changes which would lead to further racial integration of the student body and inclusion of racial minorities on the faculty. At that point, the President turns against him, fearing the loss of funding from the seminary's benefactors. As his situation at the seminary worsens, Kelly seeks out the advice and counsel of the groundskeeper, Sam (

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (May 27, 1936 – March 29, 2024) was an American actor. He made his stage debut at the age of 17. Shortly thereafter, he successfully auditioned for the Broadway theatre, Broadway play ''Take a Giant Step.'' Gossett co ...

). Sam places his own job in jeopardy by supporting Kelly's attempts at institutional change. Though his employment is terminated for a time, he is eventually reinstated. Kelly's project to integrate the student body and the faculty is successful, and he decides to remain at the seminary even after his probationary period ended.

Cast

as Samuel Benton * Starletta Dubois as Mrs. Benton *

Lauren Holly Lauren Michael Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series ''Picket Fences'', NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series '' NCIS'', and Dr. Betty Rogers ...

as Kate Allison *

as Alan Beckett *

Cedric Sanders Cedric () is a given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe''. Etymology The invented name is based on ''Cerdic'', the name of a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon king (itself from Brittonic '' Coroticus''). Popularity The name was ...

as Richard Kelly *

Siena Goines Siena Goines (born March 28, 1969) is an American film and television actress, her credits include ''The Young and the Restless'' (1998-2000), ''Judging Amy'' (2000-2004), '' The Sweetest Thing'' (2002), ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' (2005), and '' F ...

as Ruth Kelly

Production

Principal photography began in December 2007, in Los Angeles.

Home video

''The Least Among You'' was released on DVD on August 24, 2010 by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...

. and the

Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It ...

. Cedric Sanders won the Best Actor Award at the 2009

San Diego Black Film Festival The San Diego Black Film Festival is an annual film festival held in San Diego, California. The festival recognizes African American movies and production. It was founded in 2002 as the Noir Film Festival. It is one of the largest black film festiv ...

for his role in ''The Least Among You''. ''The Least Among You'' did not capture the attention of the public or the critics to any significant degree. Neither of the major movie review aggregators,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

contains an entry.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Least Among You 2000s English-language films Films directed by Mark Young