Emancipation ★★★★
EMANCIPATION is a redemption of sorts for Will Smith.
His 2022 Best Actor Oscar for King Richard was tainted by his loss of self-control at the ceremony when he physically assaulted host Chris Rock.
That act won’t be forgotten, but his role in Antoine Fuqua’s historical drama is another reminder of how good an actor Smith can be and in a socially important role.
The film is set in the 1860s during the last years of institutionalised slavery in the United States.
Smith plays Peter whose story is loosely based on the life of one of two men who became momentarily famous in 1863 when photographs showing their severely scarred backs from whippings were published world-wide.
At the start of the film Peter is forcibly taken from his wife and children who are all working as slaves on a cotton plantation. Males are being sold to perform even more back-breaking work constructing railway lines.
On entering the working campsite chained in the back of a wagon Peter is confronted with scenes that resemble a vision of hell with men toiling in oppressive heat, being killed as they drop from exhaustion and bodies being incinerated by the rotting pile.
While others despair and question their faith, the religious Peter remains defiant. When he overhears guards talking about the fact that President Lincoln’s formally abolished slavery, he realises their torturers are among those choosing to ignore the edict until they are physically confronted by the winning armed forces.
He also learns those troops are still days away and takes a sudden opportunity to overpower some guards and run for his life, accompanied by three other slaves.
Fuqua’s film then also becomes an extended chase with the stakes deepened by the personal animosity between Peter and the leader of the men hunting them, Fassel, played by Ben Foster with his usual quiet intensity and menace.
Emancipation achieves a very difficult balance in working as an emotional drama, an historical record and an exciting entertainment.
Watched at home on Apple.