Emancipation is a horror movie that unflinchingly represents the barbarous enslavement of humans. It is directed by Antoine Fuqua with Will Smith in the lead role, and it brings to light our darkest sides as human beings. This story revolves around real life events based on “Whipped Peter,” an escaped slave whose scarred back was photographed during the Civil War in 1863. The monochrome cinematography captures terrible meanness as superb artistry. You should not miss seeing this film. Unfortunately, its dramatic beginning gets flat in an unsatisfying ending getting rid of a thrillingness.
Peter or Smith prays with his wife Dodienne and their three children at Lyons plantation in Lousyanna (sic). They experience harsh bondage under one particularly evil master. He is very confident that God will help them.
He’s taken away from his loved ones to support Confederate war efforts. He’s been whipped and sent to work on rail supply near the front lines. New slaves were greeted by poles topped with heads cut off from bodies; southern soldiers treated Peter like a beast while they abused him endlessly; Mustafa Shakir watched Fassel brand R on the face of a captured runaway (Barnett).
The Emancipation Proclamation President Lincoln releases during the height of civil wars in America did not apply to those trapped within South (Bernath). Slaves being set free did nothing for them down there (Niven 6). On Lyon’s Plantation, Lousiana ,Smith who plays Peter kneels beside Dodienne, his wife, and prays with their three children . These people are under an especially nasty overseer ,who flogs them relentlessly.
Sergeant Howard (Steven Ogg) discussing the Emancipation Proclamation talks aloud but unaware that Peter hears him mention this. It comes as a surprise for him to find out about freedom of slaves when Union army had taken Baton Rouge. A dangerous encounter with Howard gives Peter an opportunity. Escaping into the swamp with other slaves. But they are pursued by Fassel’s slave patrol and its savage dogs. He tells them that the only thing they can do is to run in different directions towards cannons firing up above their heads. Peter suggests getting to Baton-Rouge and finding a way back out to the plantation, saving his family.
Emancipation will beat you down until you cry or get mad and want to kill someone (Fuqua). Fuqua depicts the nightmare existence of slaves in great detail as if he wants us to feel their pain (Bernath). They were beasts of burden always faced with violence for any non-compliance. If one refused, he was either killed or underwent extremely cruel punishment for disobedience (Bernath). The brilliant camera work creates evidence of the crime against humanity called slavery. Sweating dirty bloodied exhausted Peter is seen carrying a dead man’s body who has probably died from overworking himself. It doesn’t come worse than this.
The second part shifts the focus on an escape through swamp territory which begins as a real fight or flight challenge but becomes more than that.(Gibson 55) Fuqua boils down all his courage into this action hero character who battles crocodiles, insects and climate; However, it seems too much because it feels like something out of proportion since we already know what kind of a person our protagonist is (Zimring 142). At some point, every filmmaker must resist the urge to go bigger; there are times where a director must let things be more subtle instead; sometimes you have to say less (Gibson 62); when subtlety is required, Fuqua takes every element within his movie up a notch.
The star turns are compelling but needed more substance. Peter is challenged in his beliefs by everyone around him. Why does God permit such pain to those who follow him? The question is never answered. Peter’s extreme religious devotion is taken for granted without being sufficiently explained or justified. Fassel represents the icy grip of white prejudice. He recites elegies about himself as a deity to slaves, the only choice for them being either perpetual enslavement or death. Otherwise, it could be detrimental to the lifestyle white people lead. His supremacy wholly relies on victimhood alone. Smith and Foster are good here, but maybe if they had more information about their backgrounds then they would have been fine.
Robert Richardson (JFK, The Aviator), a three-time Oscar winner, needs to make some space on his shelf. Emancipation’s cinematography is absolutely amazing! Its pictorial values increase progressively depending on whoever owns it till it finally reaches its climax which means that when an uprising takes place among slavers as this whole piece calls those characters are always dark black and pure white since they represent ordinary human beings as well as their masters during the time of slavery while peter describes peter’s perspective drifts into subdued color with every inch of freedom he gains in life . Masterful doesn’t come close.
Emancipation may not be impeccable; however, it has its own unique features. No one has ever told me that “Whipped Peter.” Remembering his unjust hardships is important enough to talk about now and forevermore. America cannot paper over its major iniquity as a nation because this country was built upon slavery which seems to be untouchable subject matter even today
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