Roots

Roots is a 2016 American miniseries and a remake of the 1977 miniseries with the same name, based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which follows an African man who is shipped to North America as a slave and his descendants. It first aired on May 30, 2016 and stars Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anika Noni Rose, T.I. and South African actress Nokuthula Ledwaba. It was produced on a budget of $50 million. Plot Part 1 In 1767, Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby) is a young Mandinka man from Jufureh in the Gambia region of West Africa. One day, Kunta is taken into the jungle with other Mandinka youth as part of their training to become warriors. During a test where Kunta is made to run through the jungle in a certain period of time, he sees a man's dead body lying in a canoe. Kunta then sees the rival Koro family in another group of canoes, hunting for slaves to sell to European slave traders. After returning home, Kunta reports his discovery to his teachers, who decided in light of this information that Kunta's training must come to an end. After undergoing an initiation ceremony and becoming a warrior, Kunta tells his father that he wishes to attend a university in Timbuktu; in response to his father disagreeing with him, Kunta runs off into the jungle where he meets up with his lover, Jinna. The two are suddenly surrounded by the Koro family, who intend to ransom Kunta back to his relatives. However, Kunta manages to escape, killing one of the Koro family in the process before being recaptured. The Koro family subsequently decide to sell Kunta and Jinna to the crew of the Lord Ligonier, a British slave ship. After Kunta and Jinna are brought onboard the Lord Ligonier, they discover that Kunta's uncle, Silla, has also been sold into slavery. Silla attempts to escape but is thwarted by a sailor who shoots him in the arm. The captives are then brought to the ship's hold and chained next to each other. During the voyage, Jinna attempts to jump off the ship, but is caught and taken to the captain's cabin. This infuriates the other captives, and Silla's arm is cut off by the crew in order to prevent a slave rebellion by intimidating the other prisoners. However, Kunta leads a group of captives to attack the crew anyway, but this attempt fails and the crew manage to regain control of the ship.