Pretty Good

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Did anyone actually watch this film at face value? Other than that this is sadly another example of the snowball effect, we can't make our minds up on our own and follow others like sheep. Ashanti is a great film, packed with a superb class. It tackles a very real issue that might still be present, slavery. It shows how a simple doctor and love for his wife will see him go to great lengths to rescue her. The performances are very good from a very strong cast who execute a deep and bold story. A true gem of a film that if you somehow discover it, it will be a real treat to watch.

..it wasn't all that bad. 'Ashanti' has contrivance, plot holes, implausibility and more, not to mention plenty of cliché and stereotyping, while a single sentence can describe the plot; 'White husband pursues across Africa his hot black wife and her abductors who intend to sell her into slavery to wealthy Arabs'. Done. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but actually I found this quite watchable and pretty entertaining.Certainly it isn't great and I may even be being slightly generous in giving it a seven, but it was pretty light, didn't seem to take itself too seriously and if other viewers don't take it too seriously either then I doubt they'll be disappointed. Sure, this will never make any 'must see' list, but it wasn't a waste of a couple of hours and Michael Caine was far too harsh in his own criticisms of it. He must have had bigger expectations of it being some epic which it didn't live up to.It's worth a look.

My rating considers the subject matter, modern-day slavery (!), some good photography ( captives walking through Lawrence's desert, a couple of good cameos), and gives Caine, and the director, a pass for execution. I agree that there could have been a much better musical score, however, this film tickled my imagination when I first saw it in 1980; not just about how it could have been a better film, but simply by the fact that slavery, and a slave trade, continues to exist: a fact later confirmed and documented by activists as recently as 2001. As this film was originally released in 1979, I wonder how much of a budget the film would have had it been made more recently, in light of current knowledge about this phenomenon. I have ordered this film to be included in my collection. Some films' impact is only realized over time, perhaps with repeat viewings, or some time after viewing to consider their whole; some have their greatest impact upon first or second viewing, with subsequent consideration or viewing either reducing said impact, or by that impact's simply not continuing to swell. This is a film that, while it didn't continue to grow in significance for me, neither did its significance decline. It could certainly have been better, and it's unfortunate that Michael Caine, an actor whose work I largely admire, wasn't happy to have worked on this film, but I do believe that it is much better than many other b- films to be found.

This is a film about modern day slavery and slave trade. At the same time it is a tale about love and how a person would go to all lengths to get back their loved one. Inter-racial marriage may be a touchy issue for some, but I found that it worked perfectly here. Dr. Anansa (a black woman) is kidnapped, and her husband ( a white man) spares nothing to get her back). When I watched the horrors that the captives endured it reminded me of the horrors that African captives endured over the centuries. This film brought out my emotions as I despised the human injustices portrayed. At the same time I could feel the love that the Linderby's had.