REVIEW: Emancipation [2022]

December 5, 2022

2–3 minutes

Antoine Fuqua, Apple Studios, Emancipation

Rating: R | Runtime: 132 minutes
Release Date: December 2nd, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Apple Original Films
Director(s): Antoine Fuqua
Writer(s): William N. Collage

I must get to my family.

Seeking to tell the story of the man known as “Whipped Peter” from the infamous Civil War-era photograph that showed the nation the scars of slavery, screenwriter Bill Collage, director Antoine Fuqua, and star Will Smith deliver Emancipation with all the sweeping epic trappings you’d expect from a historical genre piece. For two-thirds of the runtime it’s a runaway slave escape thriller as Peter (a very effective Smith) survives the dangerous Louisiana swamps with hunter Jim Fassel (Ben Foster) on his tail. The final third is an expansive, brutal attack pitting freed Black men against a Confederate stronghold to ensure Lincoln’s proclamation can’t be ignored.

Does it bring anything new to the “slave film” table beyond giving life to the man in that photo? Not really. It’s best when it’s showcasing its action whether Peter fighting a crocodile or wreaking vengeance on his oppressors because the dialogue can get so self-serious (Foster receives a monologue so over-the-top I almost chuckled) that it becomes impossible not to remember a white man wrote it all. And while I get why we keep going back to the plantation to see Peter’s wife (Charmaine Bingwa) and children, he is so desperate to return to them that the lack of propulsion in those moments beyond supplying us more violence renders them unnecessary. As long as Peter doesn’t forget them, neither will we.

When it’s not trying to do too much, though, Emancipation does prove an emotionally-charged drama with enough suspense to keep us invested regardless of our knowing Foster and his men can only maim Peter so as not to prevent him from reaching the finish line. Our intrigue is therefore more about how they ultimately fail to capture him either by Peter’s determination or a couple fateful miracles.

I use “fate” intentionally here since the film really wants me to thank “divinity” instead—Peter’s continued “praise-be-to-God” rhetoric undercutting the strength and perseverance showcased. I’ll never get behind the idea that God tortured these men and women so that He could then be worshipped by them once they finally extricated themselves from His, by definition, intentional callousness. It’s plotlines like this that remind me why I no longer go to church.