... despite the mitigation of a Hollywood love story and a fictitious super-hero, but still not as painful as the TRUTH, the true and well-documented story of an ethnic cleansing in Florida in 1923, when, over several days, European-American mobs attacked the peaceful and prosperous African-American village of Rosewood, in Levy County. During the attack, survivors estimated, as many as eighteen African-Americans and two European-Americans were. Most of the buildings, including churches and a school, were burned. The community was abandoned and, in spite of permanent loss of land and homes, the citizens never returned. Women and children were rescued, as shown in this film, by the crew of the train that regularly stopped at the village. Given the three days of carnage, news of the events reached national newspaper attention. Reporters actually began to arrive on the scene. The governor of Florida was alarmed and asked the nearest local authorities if help was wanted from the National Guard; the sheriff replied that he didn't want help. After the event, the governor did convene an inquest, but no prosecutions or efforts to assist the refugees resulted.

Even without further attention from the outside world, the Rosewood Massacre would have been one of the most atrocious and obvious acts of ethnic/racial "cleansing" in America's history. In 1992, however, a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times uncovered evidence of the fate of Rosewood and published a story. That story led to national scrutiny. In 1993, aged survivors descendants of survivors of the Massacre sued the state of Florida for compensation. Confronted by undeniable evidence, the Florida Legislature passed a compensation bill of $2,100,000 and established a scholarship fund for Rosewood descendants. Public opinion in Florida was incensed at such acknowledgement of racism in the state's past; letters written to the legislators ran ten to one against any compensation or recognition of the truth.

Events in Rosewood in 1923 were probably far less picturesque than those shown in this film. Jon Voight does a splendid job of acting in the role of a white store-keeper caught between his own safety and his humanity. Ving Rhames is almost persuasive in his role as the "lone ranger" WW1 veteran -- the African-American stranger who rescues the children. Don Cheadle is impressive as the Rosewood music teacher who decides to fight back. All three characters are fictional, but perhaps only cinematographic fiction can begin to suggest the horror that the citizens of Rosewood experienced when their fellow Americans decided to wipe their community off the face of the Earth.