I Am Not Your Negro
Raoul Peck transforms James Baldwin’s unfinished civil-rights manuscript into a searing audiovisual meditation on Black identity, American racism, and historical memory.
Overview
A powerful exploration of race and identity through the lens of a literary giant.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- incisive
- poetic
- mournful
- history study
- film school viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly hailed the film as an incendiary, enthralling, and multifaceted use of Baldwin’s words and archival imagery to illuminate American race relations.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Raoul Peck reconstructs James Baldwin's abandoned Remember This House from its surviving pages, letters, and related writing.
Samuel L. Jackson voices Baldwin's words while archival footage and contemporary images visualize the argument.
The film moves from Baldwin's reflections on Evers, Malcolm X, and King to broader questions about enduring American race relations.
Civil rights footage, media representations, political speeches, and popular-culture images are edited into argumentative contrasts.
Films like I Am Not Your Negro, and why
Eyes on the Prize
archival civil rights history, impassioned political testimony, and urgent racial critique
The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975
essayistic documentary form, poetic voice-over, and sustained examination of Black identity and American history
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
lyrical archival portrait of a major Black cultural figure shaped by racial politics and historical memory
13th
formally inventive political documentary combining archival media with sharp analysis of race and power
Movie Details
- Director
- Raoul Peck
- Release Date
- 2017-02-03
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Rating
- 7.7 / 10 (536)
Cast
- Samuel L. Jackson
- James Baldwin
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Malcolm X
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Billy Dee Williams
- Rod Steiger
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, Dox Amazon Channel, Magnolia Selects Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, FlixFling
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, FlixFling
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is I Am Not Your Negro about?
- Raoul Peck transforms James Baldwin’s unfinished civil-rights manuscript into a searing audiovisual meditation on Black identity, American racism, and historical memory.
- What is I Am Not Your Negro like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of I Am Not Your Negro as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is I Am Not Your Negro violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in I Am Not Your Negro as moderate.
- What did critics think of I Am Not Your Negro?
- Critics broadly hailed the film as an incendiary, enthralling, and multifaceted use of Baldwin’s words and archival imagery to illuminate American race relations.
- Which films are like I Am Not Your Negro?
- Films with a similar feel include Eyes on the Prize, The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, and 13th.
- How long is I Am Not Your Negro?
- I Am Not Your Negro runs 93 minutes.
- Where can I watch I Am Not Your Negro?
- In United States, I Am Not Your Negro streams on Philo, Dox Amazon Channel, Magnolia Selects Amazon Channel.
