You Belong to Me (2014) User Reviews

A movie about injustice in the south

[mrjunkin · 6/10 · 12 December 2016]

I had the pleasure of being able to view this movie in Lancaster through my film class and got to listen to Director Jude Hagen discuss the importance of the story. For years, this story was covered up and would not be talked about in the town that it took place. It was sort of an embarrassment to the community. The filmmakers caught wind of the story and decided to dig deeper.

The story is about a very rich African American Woman named Ruby McCollum who was a a very respected woman during this time. One day she was driving down the street with her children in the back, stopped at the doctors office, and shot and killed the doctor. No one had realized why, and she was later arrested for it. The film explores the whole case through a few recovered documents and through testimonials. The way the film is shot is great! Between the interviews, the cut scenes to actors portraying people, and the text tracks. The biggest downfall with this movie is that it was very opinionated and seemed to push the agenda without much proof. Most of the people interviewed were either children or grandchildren of witnesses, attorneys, etc. during that time. Also, not a lot of documentation was found because a lot of it had been lost in a fire. All of this points to show that much of what was on the screen being said and shown was drawn not from fact mainly from word of mouth and opinion. Still a very interesting story and worth a watch!

You Belong to Me

[leniacoley · 7/10 · 12 December 2016]

I'm glad I got a chance to see this movie, although I was a little disappointed with it because it was not what I expected. It uncovered what black women back then faced and showed how they were silenced and not given a voice against rape/violence/discrimination from white men in particular. I thought the movie would draw the audience to realize these things but instead it left me with a lot of open questions. The motive for the murder of Doctor Adams wasn't clear. There were no strong witnesses or relatives that knew anything directly from Ruby herself. There was a lot of speculation, and little evidence since most of the people involved in the case were dead or didn't participate in the film. The last scene was not necessary in my opinion. To end the movie with Ruby's own son believing that the doctor and Ruby had actually had an affair goes against what I thought the whole movie was about. In all, at least her story was told because I didn't know about her until now. People will take what they want from the movie no matter how it was presented and at least it opens the conversation about this issue.

somewhat accurate

[john-96206 · 6/10 · 10 October 2022]

Many of the talking heads in the documentary provide sweeping generalizations and biased views so it is hard to trust the narrative, viewpoints or conclusions. The story they clearly want to tell is that an african american woman in the south was nothing but a victim and the person who had a relationship with her and was shot dead was nothing but a predator. In the end, the only clear truth is that the doctor and black women had a sexual relationship and she shot him dead in the back. In addition, she tried to pay off the sheriff after the fact. Those substantial facts are too significant to ignore.

Race relations and the position of women in the 50s

[gkudaka · 9/10 · 21 January 2020]

Wow, the comments for this films are as divided as the opinions of the people interviewed in the film. The majority of blacks interviewed saw Ruby as being a victim of the racial system in a KKK dominated Florida, where as many of the whites simply saw Dr Adams as their good ol' family doctor.

Accurate portrayal

[sandie_online · 9/10 · 30 July 2020]

Accurate portrayal of southern life in the 50s and 60s. Although I was a child, the only black person I saw in 5 yrs in small town Georgia was the janitor at Rexall drug store. No one outside the situation can imagine what life was like. My "small experience" was nothing except to make me a spectator.

Somewhat Disappointing And Lacking Depth

[sddavis63 · 4/10 · 18 December 2019]

This turned out not to be what I was expecting. From its description I thought this was a dramatized version of an incident that happened in the 1950's, but it turned out to be a documentary about the incident. It tells the story of a black woman named Ruby McCollum, who killed her family doctor who had been sexually abusing her. As a documentary I thought it was a bit dry, probably because I had no real personal connection to the story and had never heard of Ruby McCollum before I watched this. Its description over-hypes this a bit. There's a reference to former jurors being "haunted" by the case, but really only one former juror (and an alternate juror at that) was featured as far as I can remember and while he certainly remembered the case he also didn't seem "haunted" by it. The nature of the relationship between Ruby and the doctor wasn't entirely clear - was it abuse or was it consensual, and there wasn't a sufficiently in depth consideration of whether consent would even have been possible between two people who were in very different positions. Ruby was - relatively speaking - a well to do black woman, although her money came from her husband's gambling operations, while the doctor had powerful political friends and a potentially promising political career. To be honest a lot of the story seemed rather muddled, although one point that was made disturbingly clear was that in the South during the Jim Crow era (which lasted up until the 1960's) black women had no power vis a vis white men. If a white man wanted a black woman, he could take her without consequences even if she was married. The powerlessness of black women (and of black men) was made starkly clear. Still, with that strong point aside, I found this to be rather disappointing and somewhat lacking in real depth. (4/10)

Awful

[brandychaney · 1/10 · 26 March 2017]

This Doc needs to be redone; Very poorly written and extremely unorganized. Too many holes in testimonies and interviews.. And Its titled Rap and violence but no evidence of such acts depicted in the Doc.. What happened to her children once her husband passed? Who did he bring the children to live with?Where did he pass? Where is he buried? Is it next to Ruby?