The Journey of August King details a widowed North Carolina farmerÆs transformation from supporting the law to his recognition that he must follow his convictions and do what is right. August King is a farmer whose wife has died. As he travels home to his farm, he encounters a frightened, helpless runaway slave girl named Annalees. Annalees has escaped from her brutal master, Olaf Singletary, who obviously has more interest in her than just a slave. As he tells us, ôShe was my ray of light.ö August is at first reluctant to help Annalees, point her north and informing her it is ôagainst the lawö to help her. August discovers her the following night, hungry, lost, and tired. He decides to help her escape the bottom-lands of North Carolina by hiding her in his wagon. Chased by Olaf and his posse, the two form a relationship as they make their way North to the Blue Ridge Mountains. By the end of their journey, August realizes he has been enslaved by following laws in which he does not believe are just. The film ends with this celebration of his newfound courage and resolve.
The filmÆs main characters aside from August and Annalees include the richest landowner in the region, Olaf Singletary, who is abusive to his slaves but obviously has a sexual interest in the pretty young Annalees. The Mooney Wright is the local sheriff, a man seemingly caught in the middle of doing what is right and ensuring justice for wealthy slave-owners like Olaf. His love for his daughter, Ida, is part of the reason he is mixed in emotions over his duties. In the beginning, August does not help Annalees because he is an abolitionist or because he thinks it is the right thing to do. As Roger Ebert says of August, in his review of the film, ôHe does itàin part because of guilt over his dead wife he was unable to help, and in part because [Annalees] is helpless and harmless, and he feels sorry for her.ö
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