Emancipation is a 2022 film written by William Collage, directed by Antoine Fuqua, and coproduced by Will Smith. The film starts around 1863 on a pre-emancipation slavery plantation in the south. Will Smith plays the role of Haitian slave, who is also a husband and father to 2 children. The family is about to experience a forced separation as the slave owner is set to sell Will Smith (Peter in the movie). Will spends the last moments with his family washing their feet and anchoring their faith in God with Bible verses and lessons.
Ultimately, Peter is violently torn from his family and sold to another slave owner in a labor camp. Peter laboriously works with the rest of the enslaved masses doing arduous tasks constructing railroads across the south and other infrastructure. While enslaved he witnesses the beating and murder of his brethren, while also learning that President Abraham Lincoln has issued the freeing of slaves via his Emancipation Proclamation. Convinced of his freedom despite his current slaveowners insistence that he is still a slave, Peter begins plotting his freedom with other slaves.
During his escape, Peter must survive the dangerous elements of the wilderness from the weather to animal attacks, and slave catching crews. Peter survives against all the odds and finds himself right in the middle of the civil war. He finds security and help with a black regiment, under the leadership of a black Army Captain Andre Cailloux in the Union Army. While under the care and auspices of the Union Army, he is debriefed, medically attended to, and then enlisted as an able bodied soldier to fight against the confederate army during the Siege of Port Hudson. Peter ultimately finds his wife and children, and he is posed for one of the most iconic and historical pictures of the brutality of slavery in America.
Overall, the film was good. The film had a slow build up until it got to the middle of the movie, but that was to lay the groundwork and settings appropriately in my opinion. The cinematic black and white offsetting of the color added an immersive touch to the film. The acting was really good, although hearing Will Smith speak with a Haitian creole accent took some adjusting. The plot was excellent, and I appreciated that they showed how slaves worked to build the railroad infrastructure throughout the south. That part of slavery is often ignored, we often are told about slaves picking cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn and other commodities. However, slaves played a major role in the construction of the railways throughout America. All in all I would give Emancipation a solid 8 on a scale of 1-10. I think this is just the warm up of Will getting back to his Pre-Oscar meltdown status.
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