Prince Among Slaves Film Analysis

The first scene of the film is narrated by Abdul-Rahman, an African prince. The first scene of the movie takes place in 1788 in Futa Jallon, of West Africa. Prince Abdul describes his lineage and gives the audience a sense of his royal obligations, such as overseeing two-thousand men to be sent to the sea. After defeating his opponents, Prince Abdul returned home to announce the news. While the prince was traveling home to his father, he was ambushed by kidnappers. According to Prince Abdul, the attack was hostile: “We heard the guns. We saw the smoke.” (2:23) Many of Prince Abdul’s men were killed during the abduction. Forcefully, those who were left, were chained and dragged, to the sea. The abductors forced the prince to take off his shoes, so his feet were in pain the entire journey. The kidnappers then sold the prince and his men to slave sellers. A new narrator, Mos Def, describes the horrors of the long journey to the Americas. Captured Africans were put in chains, and had little room to move. Most of the slaves …show more content…
As illustrated in the film, African slaves were forced to discard traces of their heritage, through imposed assimilation. Seasoning can be defined as the mistreatment of slaves in an attempt to control their behavior. In the film, Mos Def explains the various indicators of the seasoning process. For example, he states that slaves were forced to learn English, were whipped to prevent them from escaping, and were prohibited from practicing their religion. Because they were from West Africa, slaves were typically Muslim, but were forced to only practice Christianity. Mr. Foster cut off Prince Abdul-Rahman’s hair, which was a sign of nobility. Mr. Foster was denouncing Abdul-Rahman’s royalty, showing that he had no respect for him. This is just one example of how slaves were seasoned to obey their