Arquivo

Shaft is John?s surname, and he is a brave Afro-American policeman. Drug traffic lords and assassins with no scruples are part of his day-to-day life, but they do not make him afraid. In one of his cases, however, he is to face another enemy: justice itself. He wants delinquent Walter Wade, a spoiled rich university student accused of killing a black student, behind bars. Shaft arrests Wade in the act, but he is freed as soon as his father pays bail. Wade flees the country and, when he tries to return, he is again arrested by Shaft. The father pays bail once more, and Wade is again released. Out of prison, he attempts to revenge himself on the detective with the assistance of two corrupt policemen and a drug traficker also greedy for vengeance. This is a refilming of a film series by Gordon Parks from 1971. The original made history because, for the first time, it presented a courageous determined black hero. "Up to that time, we had only Sidney Poitier. When Richard Roundtree came on the scene as Shaft, the effect was devastating. Everyone wanted to copy him. He was our first real hero. The film speaks of black pride", says Samuel L Jackson, who plays the policeman in this new version.