Will Smith powers Civil War survival thriller ‘Emancipation’
The stylish period drama “Emancipation” tries to juggle, with mixed results, an assortment of genres: survival thriller, action adventure and Civil War epic. Yet it mainly works, due to a quietly powerful performance from Will Smith as an enslaved man just trying to get home.
There is a Homeric quality to director Antoine Fuqua’s film (★★g☆; rated R; in theaters now and streaming on Apple TV+ Friday), which takes the wellknown 1863 photograph of “Whipped Peter” – showing the scarred and mutilated back of a Black soldier serving in the Union army – and creates a fictionalized, often brutal journey of faith and fortitude. The heart of the matter gets lost amid the action-movie elements – with shades of “The Revenant” and “Glory” – though a dedicated Smith emotionally steadies the film through its rougher spots.
Peter (Smith) is a Haitian-born Christian working the cotton fields on a Louisiana plantation. “The Lord is with me. I will not be afraid. What can a mere man do to me?” he tells his wife Dodienne (Charmaine Bingwa) and family. One day, Peter is ripped from his life by Southern goons – he literally tears the hinges off of his door – and taken to work at a Confederate labor camp.
The story is set after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation when hundreds of thousands of Black people had to wait for the North to liberate them or take their freedom themselves. Learning that enslaved men are heading for Baton Rouge, where Lincoln’s army is located, Peter pulls off a risky escape with a few others. But they’re pursued through the swamps by vicious “man hunter” Jim Fassel (Ben Foster), whose prejudice is born from shame and fear. He’s not the only problem: Peter encounters natural obstacles such as bees, leeches, snakes and one hungry alligator.
Armed with uncanny survival skills, Peter meets Andrew Cailloux (Mustafa Shakir) and joins his allBlack regiment of Union soldiers, but never sets aside his larger mission.
Smith’s strong performance shores up missing pieces of character development, which is an issue in “Emancipation.” We know what kind of man Peter is, yet we don’t really get to know him. So much of the film is spent on the chase or war scenes that at key times it becomes more about the action than the man at the center.
Fuqua’s filmmaking is impressive. The monochrome cinematography lends a distinctive feel, accentuated by uses of spot color. And tracking shots of swamps and landscapes show the scale and horrors of Peter’s quest.
There’s a propulsive quality to the film, especially with Peter on the run. Yet it’s not an easy watch, with images of decapitated heads, sounds of whips and screams, and other horrific traumas suffered by enslaved people.
“Emancipation” truly finds itself when it digs into the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of Smith’s character as he trades barbs with Foster’s Fassel, has a discussion about God and slavery with a fellow prisoner or stands up to a dismissive military man who questions his fight.
It’s been quite a year for the actor, from winning an Oscar to the aftermath of “The Slap,” but he ends 2022 with a reminder of his talent. Smith’s commitment to capturing the authenticity and agony of the struggle by Peter (and those like him) stays with you.