Odessa cotter (whoopi) is the black maid for the very white thompson family. The black population is on strike from riding the buses, so mom thompson starts helping with the carpools. Which pits her against her own husband, a bigshot in town. Then hell breaks loose. Frequent use of the n word. Co-stars sissy spacek. It's pretty good. Shows the dynamics between the people in a white family and a black family during the 1950s, when events forced one to choose sides. Directed by richard pearce. Story by john cork. Very well done.

Nelson Mandela titled his autobiography "The Long Walk to Freedom." It seems that Black people all over the world have had to walk long arduous roads for a modicum of decent treatment and equal protection under the law.

"The Long Walk Home" takes place in Montgomery, Alabama and starts with Rosa Parks' decision to sit on the front of the bus and not yield. That action of hers sparked a bus boycott that would go down in history and change the course for Blacks and Whites in the U.S.

Whoopi Goldberg plays Odessa Cotter, a maid for a white family in Montgomery. Odessa makes the bold decision to join in the boycott while recognizing that she still has to get to work. She decided to walk the long journey to and from work except for the couple of days a week her employer, Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), gives her a ride.

Though many of us know about the bus boycott academically, movies such as this one give us a visceral knowledge of how it played out---how it affected the rank and file amongst Black Alabamans and how White Alabamans were incensed at such an affront. It was such a small request, to sit in the front of the bus, yet it was so weighty.

"The Long Walk Home" does an excellent job focusing on one ordinary Black woman in Odessa and one ordinary White woman in Miriam. The attitudes and language of the hegemony cut deep as they casually discuss the plight of the Blacks around them. It is definitely jarring at times, but we know that truth and justice prevailed. And as the beginning of the end credits stated:

"On December 20, 1956, under Supreme Court order, the Negro citizens of Montgomery, for the first time in history rode on city buses and sat where they wanted.

Within weeks, four Negro churches and two homes were bombed. But a movement had begun."

Powerful film with great performances all around!

My only criticism is that it ends rather abruptly during an emotionally climatic scene. Then, it was over. There was no morning after epilogue about what happened to the characters and how their lives changed. And in a film driven by characters, I felt like it needed more closure.

Def worth watching!