Emancipation – Review
132 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Bill Collage
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Synopsis:
A runaway slave forges through the swamps of Louisiana on a torturous journey to escape plantation owners that nearly killed him.
Emancipation marks Will Smith’s first movie since the infamous Oscars slap heard round the world. Clearly, this was to be another attempt by Smith to curry favor with the awards folks should his turn as Richard Williams have failed to garner him the validation he so fervently desired.
But enough about this guy; let’s talk about the rest of the film, shall we?
First, despite Emancipation being based on true events, and a true person (“Gordon,” renamed “Peter” in the film), whose photo showing the scarred evidence of his flayed back circulated across the world and brought the true face of slavery to light, galvanizing the civilized world against the practice.
Taken after undertaking a perilous 80-mile journey after fleeing his owners, he crossed hazardous swamps while evading his pursuers, in an attempt to join the Union army in Baton Rouge following the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the Southern slaves.
So, we have what is an undoubtedly compelling narrative, brought to the screen by an incredible director in Antoine Fuqua. This is a no-brainer, right?
Well, yes and no.
Emancipation isn’t a bad film, by any stretch of the imagination. Shot almost entirely in shades of black and white, Fuqua flourishes the presentation with muted accents of color (almost exclusively red: fire, blood, rage in a facial expression, etc.).
It’s a bold choice in this day in age, to present a feature-length film in black and white. I say that because the vibrancy of the story (horrific as it is) would seem to indicate a more expansive palette.
But what do I know? I’m not a big-time Hollywood director.
Ben Foster plays the man who buys Peter and subsequently pursues him across the swamps to Baton Rouge. His performance as a man who embodies the evil of the attitudes of the time is chilling, and more worthy of awards talk than Smith this time around. His monologue roughly halfway through the film about his childhood is chilling, embodying the attitudes and beliefs held by a certain segment of society today.
Monstrous.
The problem with Emancipation, however, is that we’ve seen this all before. There isn’t really anything original in the film, which doesn’t become compelling (aside from Foster’s screen time) until after Peter reaches the Union army and joins up.
There is another great scene at this point featuring Smith, Mustafa Shakir (as a Lt. leading the Louisiana Native Guard, an all-black unit), and David Denman (another solid character actor, BTW) as Union General William Dwight, which provides another opportunity to see the attitudes of more “enlightened” people in terms of slaves.
This brief interlude is broken only by the post-battle denouement, in which Peter tries to locate his family as his new unit takes possession of the plantation his family was forced to stay at when he was sold to Foster.
Emancipation is ultimately a film we’ve seen before, punctuated by one great Supporting performance and some exquisite cinematography.
Emancipation is currently in select theaters and on Apple TV+ and stars Will Smith, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilber Owuor, Michael Luwoye, Steven Ogg, Mastafa Shakir, and David Denman.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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tags: movies, movie review, emancipation, Will Smith, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilber Owuor, Michael Luwoye, Steven Ogg, Mastafa Shakir, David Denman, drama, slavery, antoine fuqua, Bill Collage