Emancipation: Film Review
After months of laying low following the Oscars slap controversy, Will Smith has made his movie comeback with Emancipation.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all slaves free, but it took more than two years for that to actually be the case. In that period, slaves had to keep working for their masters until the Union Army liberated them – or they could try to make a run for it.
Antoine Fuqua‘s latest movie follows slave Peter (Smith), who makes a break for freedom and spends days running through the treacherous swamps and bayous in Louisiana to reach the Union Army in Baton Rouge while being chased by his owner Fassel (Ben Foster). The tale is based on the true story of “Whipped Peter”, a real photograph of a slave so badly mutilated by whipping that it opened the world’s eyes to the brutality of slavery.
Emancipation is a gruelling watch, as you’d expect from a slave drama. The first half hour is gutwrenching and upsetting as it’s set in the railroad construction site where Peter works and we see Black men being beaten, whipped, branded and so much more. Those scenes of despicable cruelty really punched me in the gut.
Smith has insisted in interviews that this is a freedom drama rather than a slavery one – and I see where he’s coming from. The majority of the film is more of a chase through the swamps. It has almost an action-adventure and cat-and-mouse vibe – which was certainly unexpected – because Peter faces many obstacles along the way and has to come up with clever ways to survive. Foster refuses to let Peter and his pals escape unpunished so he’s never too far behind. It later becomes a war movie as Peter signs up to help the Union Army fight the confederates.
This film is visually intriguing. It is basically monochrome, although there are pops of colour here and there, particularly for fire, blood, and greenery. I didn’t know the reason behind this and it felt jarring seeing full colour fire in amongst the black and white but I got used to it. There are a few shots that really wowed me – a drone shot along a winding river, a continuous take of Peter running full speed and a wide shot of the aftermath of a Civil War battle – but in other moments, the cinematography felt rather unpleasant on the eye.
Smith puts in another awards-worthy performance and he channels Peter’s strength, determination and resolve very well. We spend a lot of the movie just with Peter on his own and there’s no speech but it’s still compelling.
Emancipation is an unexpected take on a slave drama and not all of the decisions worked but I still found it very moving.
On Apple TV+ now