Rosewood

Rosewood (1997) is a historical drama directed by John Singleton — watch it online on iFILM. In January 1923, a single lie told by a white woman from a nearby town set off a wave of violence that erased a prosperous Black community in Florida from the map.

Ving Rhames plays Mann, a WWI veteran who rides into Rosewood at exactly the wrong moment and finds himself caught between a murderous mob and the people it is hunting. Don Cheadle is a local storekeeper with no exit and no allies. John Voight plays the one white man in the area who decides to hide the survivors — fully aware of what it will cost him. Singleton reconstructed these events from the testimonies of those who escaped; Florida authorities suppressed the story for decades.

The film does not soften the ugliness, but its real subject is the handful of choices made under pressure — the ones that saved lives when everything else failed. Stream Rosewood (1997) online on iFILM.