FILM OF THE WEEK ORIGIN
(UK 12/ROI 12, 140 mins, Black Bear International, available on digital platforms, Drama/Romance)
Starring: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash, Emily Yancy, Blair Underwood, Finn Wittrock, Victoria Pedretti, Myles Frost.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) tends to her elderly mother, Ruby (Emily Yancy), in between speaking engagements.
Isabel and financial analyst husband Brett Hamilton (Jon Bernthal) wrestle with their guilt as they ruefully oversee Ruby’s move into an assisted living facility.
Soon after, newspaper editor Amari Selvan (Blair Underwood) encourages Isabel to listen to an emergency services call made by the self-appointed neighbourhood watch captain who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin (Myles Frost) in Sanford, Florida.
The idea for a new book germinates but two devastating personal losses within the space of a year almost break Isabel’s spirit.
Steadfast cousin Marion (Niecy Nash) provides emotional ballast so Isabel can return to work and undertake globe-trotting research for her nonfiction survey, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents.
Filmed on location in the American south, Berlin and Delhi, Origin is another masterful portrait of the multi-faceted human condition from writer-director Ava DuVernay.
An elegant, non-linear script deftly traces connective tissue between historical touchstones in Wilkerson’s bestseller, which explores how entire groups have been dehumanised throughout history.
DuVernay glides between these deeply moving stories of courage and defiance, which include a Nazi Party member (Finn Wittrock) and his Jewish lover (Victoria Pedretti) caught up in the gathering storm of 1937 Germany.
The writer-director’s personal engagement with Wilkerson is evident, confidently shepherding us through dense subject matter that could, in lesser hands, feel inaccessible or dry.
Tragedies of the past ripple through time and provoke animated discussion.
Filmmaking of the highest calibre.
Rating: ****