''The Least Among You'' is a film based on the true story of Presbyterian Rev. Dr. Charles Marks' formative years, written and directed by first time writer/director Mark Young. It explores issues of self-determination in the face of systemic racial persecution in the United States in the mid-1960s.

Plot

In the opening minutes of the film, Richard Kelly (played by Cedric Sanders), is behind bars, having been arrested during the infamous Watts Riots for allegedly assaulting a police officer. Though he maintains that he is innocent, Kelly is convicted. At his sentencing he is presented with a choice between serving jail time and serving probation for one year as a student at an all-white Christian theological seminary. Kelly faces overt hostility from his fellow students and confusion over his place in the school from the faculty. He has the support and encouragement from the President of the Seminary (played by

William Devane William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera '' Knots Landing'' (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas '' 24'' (2001–2010) and '' ...

), up until he begins to attempt to introduce institutional changes which would lead to further racial integration of the student body and inclusion of racial minorities on the faculty. At that point, the President turns against him, fearing the loss of funding from the seminary's benefactors. As his situation at the seminary worsens, Kelly seeks out the advice and counsel of the groundskeeper, Sam (

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936) is an American actor. Born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, He had his stage debut at the age of 17, in a school production of '' You Can't Take It with You.'' Shortly after he successfully ...

). Sam places his own job in jeopardy by supporting Kelly's attempts at institutional change. Though his employment is terminated for a time, he is eventually reinstated. Kelly's project to integrate the student body and the faculty is successful, and he decides to remain at the seminary even after his probationary period ended.

Cast

as Samuel Benton * Starletta Dubois as Mrs. Benton *

Lauren Holly Lauren Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series ''Picket Fences'', NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series '' NCIS'', Dr. Betty Rogers on ''Motive' ...

as Kate Allison *

as Alan Beckett *

Cedric Sanders Cedric () is a masculine given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe''.Sir Walter Scott, Graham Tulloch (ed.), ''Ivanhoe'', vol. 8 of The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, Edinburgh University Press, 1998, , "explanator ...

as Richard Kelly *

Siena Goines Siena Goines (born March 28, 1969) is an American film and television actress. She has guest-starred on the soap opera ''Passions'', the police drama ''The Division'' and the medical drama ''Private Practice''. History Goines was born in Washi ...

as Ruth Kelly

Production

Principal photography began in December 2007, in Los Angeles.

Home video

''The Least Among You'' was released on DVD on August 24, 2010 by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...

. and the

Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...

. Cedric Sanders won the Best Actor Award at the 2009

San Diego Black Film Festival The San Diego Black Film Festival is one of the largest black film festivals in the United States. It was founded in 2002 as the Noir Film Festival and takes place annually in San Diego County, California, to recognize African American movies and p ...

for his role in ''The Least Among You''. ''The Least Among You'' did not capture the attention of the public or the critics to any significant degree. Neither of the major movie review aggregators,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

contains an entry.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Least Among You 2000s English-language films Films directed by Mark Young