Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her widowed father, a wealthy plantation owner, dotes on her and sends her to the best schools. When he dies suddenly Amantha's world is turned upside down. She learns that her father had been living on borrowed money and that her mother was actually a slave and her father's mistress.
Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her widowed father, a wealthy plantation owner, dotes on her and sends her to the best schools. When he dies suddenly Amantha's world is turned upside down. She learns that her father had been living on borrowed money and that her mother was actually a slave and her father's mistress.
While the film depicts the dehumanizing effects of slavery and racial prejudice, aligning with social justice concerns, its narrative solution is primarily focused on individual love and personal redemption rather than advocating for systemic change or offering a strong political critique, leading to a neutral rating.
The movie features lead roles of characters of color played by white actors, reflecting traditional Hollywood casting practices of its era. Its narrative explores themes of race and slavery but does not explicitly critique traditional identities, instead often romanticizing aspects of the period and focusing on individual relationships within a complex historical context.
The film portrays many Christian adherents and institutions in the antebellum South as deeply hypocritical, using their faith to justify the brutal institution of slavery. The narrative implicitly critiques this perversion of religious principles, highlighting the cruelty and moral bankruptcy of those who claim piety while perpetrating injustice.
Band of Angels (1957) does not feature any identifiable LGBTQ+ characters or themes. The narrative centers on a woman's journey through racial identity, slavery, and romance in the Civil War era, without engaging with queer identities or experiences.
The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.
The 1957 film "Band of Angels" is a direct adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's 1955 novel. All significant characters in the film retain the same gender as established in the original source material, with no instances of a character canonically established as one gender being portrayed as another.
The film adapts a novel where the protagonist, Amantha Starr, is of mixed race but visually presented as white, a key plot point. The actress portraying her is white, consistent with the character's visual presentation and narrative in the source material. No other major characters show a race change from their established canon.
Combines user and critic ratings from four sources