Emancipation
In Antoine Fuqua’s conceivable masterpiece, Will Smith plays a brutalised slave in 1860s’ Louisiana.
Dreams of freedom: Will Smith and Ben Foster
One suspects that Antoine Fuqua viewed this as his Schindler’s List. It’s inspired by the true story of a real man, is a sweeping epic in scope, and it deals with a terrible injustice inflicted on a people who happened to be of a different race. Emancipation is also in black-and-white but, like Schindler’s List, not completely. And it’s Fuqua’s masterpiece, albeit knowingly so.
Fuqua, who made his name with such hard-hitting action-thrillers as Training Day, Brooklyn’s Finest and The Equalizer, has never been one to pull his punches, cinematically speaking. His stock in trade is the visceral rush of violence avenged. He knows his stuff and both his professional expertise and artistic sensibility would seem to be a good fit for this slave drama. But, in spite of its many strengths, it also has its problems. Unlike more recent films as 12 Years a Slave, The Birth of a Nation, Harriet and Antebellum, Emancipation feels like a star project. Will Smith carries too much baggage for us to think of his character as just another anonymous slave. We know that he can handle a gun and retribution is his middle name (ask Chris Rock). And so, in spite of its artistic pretensions, Emancipation feels like a star project when it shouldn’t. And one can see why Fuqua couldn’t resist casting Ben Foster as the bad guy, the actor recycling his blank-eyed embodiment of evil he exhibited so effectively in Hostage, 3:10 to Yuma and Hostiles. And the bad guys here are very, very bad. 12 Years a Slave was more nuanced, as was Schindler’s List.
Will Smith plays Peter, a slave who in spite of his arrogant manner and rebellious nature seems to escape the unceremonious fate of those around him. He is also married with three children and is a devoutly religious man, convinced that God will guide him out of this hell. Meanwhile, his fellow slaves are branded, beaten and beheaded, inhumane examples to those that might tarry – or dare to escape. Those that cannot keep up, die in their tracks, their bodies tossed into a pit of corpses to be covered in lime. Such unimaginable cruelty has become the meat and vegetables of many recent films set in this milieu, and with the continuing racism on the streets of America it is understandable that Fuqua would want to add his own indignation to the fire. With the assistance of his DP, Robert Richardson (Salvador, Platoon, Django Unchained), he has brought a vivid, haunted artistry to the gnarled bayous of Louisiana, infected with mosquitoes, disease, snakes and alligators. And even as much of what is on screen is difficult to watch, it’s equally hard to tear one’s eyes away.
Will Smith, who was reportedly paid $35 million for his contribution, gives a performance of almost superhuman heroism and endurance, much as Leonardo DiCaprio did in his Oscar-winning turn in The Revenant. But such is Peter’s resilience and resourcefulness, that there is almost an air of Rambo about him, which doesn’t work in the film’s favour. However, in just a few scenes, it is the Australian actress Charmaine Bingwa who registers most strongly, who, as Peter’s wife Dodienne, tears the flesh off our eyes with a study of dignity fused with utter despondency. She really is something else – and the only truly credible human presence in the film. There’s a good score, too, from the Brazilian pianist Marcelo Zarvos, and the production design is outstanding. As to be expected from Fuqua, his magnum opus is a sublime piece of cinema if, ultimately, in its self-conscious intent, it is a film that is easier to admire than to believe in.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Will Smith, Ben Foster, Mustafa Shakir, Gilbert Owuor, Michael Luwoye, Charmaine Bingwa, David Denman, Paul Ben-Victor, Aaron Moten, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Grant Harvey, Steven Ogg.
Dir Antoine Fuqua, Pro Will Smith, Todd Black, Joey McFarland and Jon Mone, Screenplay William N. Collage, Ph Robert Richardson, Pro Des Naomi Shohan, Ed Conrad Buff IV, Music Marcelo Zarvos, Costumes Francine Jamison-Tanchuck, Sound Will Digby, Dialect coach Thomas O. Jones, Acting coach for Will Smith Aaron Speiser, Religious consultant for Will Smith Juan Crockett.
Apple Original Films/Overbrook Entertainment/Westbrook Studios/McFarland Entertainment/Escape Artists-Altitude Film Distribution/Apple TV+.
132 mins. USA. 2022. UK and US Rel: 9 December 2022. Cert. 15.
