Film Review: ANTEBELLUM (2020): May Be Comfortable Just Pointing Out That Racism is Still Around, But We’re Not

Antebellum Review

Antebellum (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Gerard Bush and Christoph Renz, and starring Janelle Monae, Jena Malone, Eric Lange, Jack Huston, Gabourey Sidibe, Kiersey Clemmons, Arrabella Landrum, Tongayi Chirisa, T.C. Matherne, Robert Aramayo, Marque Richardson, London Boyce, Bernard Hocke and Dayna Schaaf.

You would be forgiven for thinking, based on advertisement and hype alone, that Antebellum was a Jordan Peele production. In fact, the film would be happy you made such an error.

The enigmatic, Oscar-winning writer/director of Get Out‘s work was at the forefront of a lot of horror films and television with racial issues at their core, but Peele, a co-writer of one of the best comedy duos of the past twenty years, always kept it funny. It’s never as overbearingly self-serious as Antebellum. If Peele’s work is the nuanced, sharp response to the complex race issues that currently face the U.S., Gerard Bush and Cristoph Renz’ Antebellum is the dull hammer smashing you over the head.

Antebellum opens in media res with a runaway slave on a plantation. We’re meant to assume it’s a period piece, and it’s a glorious-looking one. The color, costumes and design are as credible as any Ken Burns documentary. But it’s undercut by a brutality equally real, as the slave is lassoed and shot.

Eden (Janelle Monae) is a slave who witnesses to murder, and she’s clearly planning some sort of uprising, all the while trying to keep it secret and appear obedient.

The first 40 minutes or so depicts a horrific two days of plantation life, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. If rape scenes disturb you, these are no exception (yes, technically plural). But even Hostel Part II dealt with the weak-willed man turned sadist much more cleverly. Here, it barely registers. The Confederate officers are walking stereotypes.

But those stereotypes, in hindsight, become the film’s strongest assets once the reveal comes. After Eden is raped by the General (Eric Lange), the camera shifts to the present day. Or, rather, it’s always been there.

Eden is actually Veronica, a prominent sociologist talking head who regularly appears on MSNBC and regularly spars with Senator Blake Denton, who is also the general.

The reveal makes renders the stereotypes appropriately hilarious. They’re just boys and girls playing dress-up. But it’s so clumsily dealt, you’re not entirely sure it is what it is.

There’s lingering doubt about whether or not Eden was a relative of Veronica, or if Denton was similarly a past relation. That it’s not explained outright is a serious issue, because it distracts you from the impact of the fact that there’s a racist theme park in the heart of present-day America.

The reveal isn’t bad. It’s even clever if a little on-the-nose. But the present-day counterparts to their Antebellum roleplaying are still stereotypes when they shouldn’t be. Even Veronica, or what little we see of her, just spouts obvious talking points.

This is especially problematic with Jena Malone’s character, the daughter of Denton in real-life and the Belle of the South within the park. Malone is a fine actress, but she still feels like she’s roleplaying in the real world.

There are going to be a lot of important films about Black Lives Matter and race relations in present-day America. Antebellum is a blip on the radar at best, showcasing all the violence and brutality of racial hatred and the residual bitterness of died in the wool racists that still somehow lingers post-Civil War, but it doesn’t really do much with it. It seems Bush and Renz are happy to just point it out. They did half the work. It shows.

Rating: 3/10

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