Review of The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974) by Jeanine B — 05 Jun 2007

This is one of the most wrenchingly emotional films ever made about the African-American experience. As Miss Jane Pittman, an elderly woman whose nearly century long life covers the scope of the slave experience, the Jim Crow era, the civil-rights movement, and to martyrdom in her community, Cicely Tyson gives a performace for the ages all the more striking for her flawless interpretation of her character's shifts in mood and character as well as in her physical age;you'd be hard pressed to believe an actress in her forties portrayed someone who is nearly a century old, but Tyson's immersion in this role makes you believe in Pittman's character entirely.

But that's just one of many great elements-including the soaring writng and sensitive direction-that makes this the emotional experince that it is. It just makes me cry every time I watch it.