Emancipation is based on a well-explored dark and disturbing chapter of the American history.
It’s based on the inhumane practice of slavery and subjugation.
On greed and cruelty.
And the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 which declared that all slaves in the rebellious states were free.
Told through the heroic story of escape to freedom of Peter or Whipped Peter.
A self-emancipated, enslaved man. Whose iconic image became an outcry against the atrocities of slavery during the American Civil War.
The thing that stands out evidently in Emancipation is its color grading.
It resembles the color palette of a photo taken in that time period.
Color but mostly monotone. Color but sepia. Detailed but washed out.
Sort of a product of the camera’s at the time.
A daring artistic choice that gave the film a distinct character.
The color grading made way for some spectacular shots of the swamps of Louisiana and its fauna.
Making the time period feel more lifelike. Props to the art direction aswell.
The movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who is the excellent director behind the Equalizer series.
The director it seems sure enjoyed the tall vegetation, swamps, and its fauna thoroughly and used it to create ethereal moments of all kinds.
It’s written by William N. Collage.
Academy Award winner Robert Richardson is the cinematographer of the movie, who has previously worked on Django Unchained. Another stylized excellent action movie on the subject by director Quintin Tarantino.
The background score, that many times created a feeling of transcendence, in scenes when Peter leans into God for guidance, mourns, and longs for his family is composed by Marcelo Zarvos.
Because I mentioned the color grading earlier, it’s important that I also mention the editor of the film, Conrad Buff IV, who has won an Oscar for Best Film Editing for Titantic.
The cuts and emphasis of scenes and the color of them have tremendously helped to uphold the atmosphere of the movie.
Without a need to mention, Will Smith is playing Peter (originally Gordon) in the movie.
As I said for Tom Hanks, Will Smith also knows how to play a man who’s on his own experiencing the full range of human emotions and surviving.
Will Smith would have rather benefited if he had received an Oscar for this movie instead of King Richard. I haven’t seen King Richard yet but as of now I believe his performance in Emancipation trumps the one in King Richard and it would have also saved him the fiasco that was Oscar 2022.
The supporting cast has good performances too.
Dodienne, portrayed wife of Peter, is played by Charmaine Bingwa.
She brought a gentle and content sadness to her character, that conveyed a detached submission to the slavers. For peace and her family.
Ben Foster, who played the character of Jim Fassel, personified a purposeless savagery that kills time by hunting slaves. He has helped to keep the movie tense enough for its material.
Otherwise, even after having a crocodile fight scene, which was okay, a battle of the freedom army, that surprisingly was sparsely designed, and a showdown between the villains and the hero, the movie lacks a sense of gripping tension between the pursuers and the pursued.
It’s maybe because the protagonist was played by a major superstar.
We know he doesn’t die.
Everything feels heroic nonetheless and puts into perspective the struggle and the dread of the man and the people.
Many slavery related scenes are indeed uncomfortable, gloomy, but somehow less gut wrenching than anticipated.
This does not however take away from the gravity of what’s depicted in the movie but it’s just an observation about the film as a work itself.
Creating meaningful tense scenes is a tough hit and miss exercise.
Throughout the movie you hear people describe people as things. As it.
Derogating them. Demeaning them. Disregarding their humanity and robbing them off their vanity and grace.
The movie shows how in fear and in power humans have the capacity to enact inhumane cruelty.
It shows how subjugation requires ignorance of all kinds and it starts with keeping down the gaze of its captives.
It shows how a person’s will to live and to do anything for their family can overcome the direst of odds.
It shows that even in the darkest times, good people fight for good.
They may be few but not nonexistent. And eventually the good wins over the bad.
As one cannot deny that without the will of many who distasted slavery, it would have continued indefinitely.
Peter one time working, overhears white henchmen discuss that Lincoln has made the slaves free.
Post that he takes a dangerous opportunity to escape to Baton Rogue which was secured by Lincoln’s army. And from there back to his family.
As I found in my research, his family in the movie is fictional. A simple drama device.
The writing has a couple of impactful moments too but sadly, the impact of two of the best lines in the movie is blunted a little because they were featured in the movie’s trailer.
Regardless of that emancipation is engrossing and it’s a quality cinema that shows you new vistas of the American South.
The whole story is told through a handful of characters and it’s mainly led by Will Smith. Who skilfully disappears behind the Creole accent.
“You know when you look at the brutality that he suffered and then through the research realizing even with that, he was able to sustain faith, gratitude, and love in the face of those kinds of atrocities. I knew that I wanted to learn from Peter.” Said Will Smith in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Again the stand-out elements of the movie are its vistas, its cinematography, dialogues, the sadness in the time period, and the depiction of the disturbing nature of the slavers mentality.
The movie is paced quite well and will capture the interest of most people who don’t frequently watch cinema like this.
I recommend watching it as movies like this remind us of what we should not want to repeat in the future and how beautiful life is when people have the opportunity to live with grace and dignity.
Some critics have expressed that the action thriller format of the movie dampens the disgusting reality of slavery.
Expecting a more Schindlers List like portrayal of the subject matter.
I however believe that plenty of movies have elaborated on the plight of slavery and the director here maybe wanted to tell a riveting tale of a man’s determination to be free.
A story of his grit and strength.
In a discussion with my wife, she said “People should see a movie unbiased from the director’s perspective and not with any preconceived notions and then judge whether it was a good perspective or not and whether it was well made.”
To which I fully agree.
Speaking with her helps me think better.
I score it an 8 out of 10.
The movie was initially released in select theatres across the US and it’s now streaming on Apple TV+.
Apple TV is stacking up quite a collection.
If you are in for a contemplative and thrilling experience on one of the dark periods of human history then definitely watch Emancipation.
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