Review: Enslaved
DVD & Digital: Enslaved (2020)
What a strange programme Enslaved is. I was hoping for an in-depth exploration of the journey and let’s be honest, torture, of the human slave trade from Africa. But what transpires is a very uneven ‘sort of’ history programme that is mainly about diving for evidence of slave ships.
Made by Afua Hirsch and producer/director Simcha Jacobovici and Samuel L Jackson they travel throughout the slave trade triangle but struggle to make a really enthralling series. This is because it totally relies on ‘Diving With a Purpose’, a charitable organisation that investigates underwater history. The crew that appear in the series are very earnest about their task and do a great job, but the slave trade is so much more than the actual transport of slaves, and the seemingly forced melodrama of the ship seems more like …filler.
Perhaps it would have been a much more truthful description to call the show ‘A maritime history of slavery’ Or even ‘Slave ships’ and left it at that, because in essence this is what this series is, which is such a shame because a ‘Ken Burns’ type examination of the WHOLE story would be amazing, and also essential viewing.
It’s a very delicate subject, but unfortunately the constant boat drama and diving left me wanting dry land.
Review by Tina from discs kindly supplied by Dazzler Media via The Warrior Agency.