Film Review: EMANCIPATION (2022): Antoine Fuqua’s Film Showcases Will Smith in Another Finely Rendered Performance

Emancipation Review

Emancipation (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by Bill Collage and starring Will Smith, Ben Foster, Charmaine Bingwa, Gilbert Owuor, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Aaron Moten, Jabbar Lewis, Michael Luwoye, Steven Ogg, Grant Harvey, Mustafa Shakir, Paul Ben-Victor, Jesse C. Boyd, David Denman, Imani Pullum, Jeremiah Friedlander, Jordyn McIntosh and Landon Chase Dubois.

Antoine Fuqua is one of the most accomplished directors working today. He always makes films with tremendous energy. Fuqua adds his distinct style to his latest dramatic action film, Emancipation, which features Will Smith in one of his strongest serious performances to date.  The movie is a Civil War story enhanced by the intense human drama featured within the picture. Smith stars in the film as Peter who is based on a real character known as Whipped Peter whose scarred back was the subject of a photograph that helped shed light on the torture that slaves endured. The new picture is set in 1863 and is fearless and tense all the way through with enough powerful emotions to make viewers become quite invested in the material.

Set in Louisiana, the film revolves around Peter who is a family man whose wife, Dodienne, is played to perfection by Charmaine Bingwa in a star-making performance. Peter is a slave who commander, Jim Fassel (Ben Foster), sees a tremendous amount of potential in. Jim thus removes Peter from his home to work in another location. This takes away the possibility of Peter staying with his family. Jim sets out to take him onward and away from the current home where he has been residing with Dodienne and their kids. Needless to say, Peter’s family is torn apart significantly as a result.

When Peter and some other captured men escape, they are pursued by those slave owners who seek to exploit them or kill them. Peter suggests that the men who have escaped beside him go in different directions in order to give each other more of a chance for survival. They must make their way through alligator and snake infested waters and it’s safe to say with the dogs the slave owners have at their disposal, survival for these men will be almost impossible. At one point, Peter finds an onion and rubs it all over himself to try to throw the dogs off his track.

There are many spectacularly filmed scenes here. The movie demands to be seen on a large screen because of the cinematography which is bleak, at times, but meaningful and it is most effective when there’s a glimmer of color in the scene whether it be the color of fire or of the color that details Smith’s face which is full of despair. Most of the picture is shot in a sort of black and white style where the images feel authentic but lack completeness much like the characters in the movie who are seeking freedom. There is a scene of the decapitated heads of slaves early in the movie that really helps shed light on the horrific conditions that existed. This film doesn’t spare graphic details which help bring the picture’s thematic elements into view.

Smith is outstanding. Late in the film, his character is told by a commanding officer something somewhat derogatory that provokes him to respond with an answer that will tear your heart out. Peter transforms from a man who is a beaten slave to an uncertain warrior fighting for survival until he ultimately becomes a leader unafraid to lead in battle.

Bingwa, as Dodienne, is a revelation. In one scene, she speaks about her dire situation with subtitles capturing the words she is saying as she speaks her native language. Bingwa captivates the viewer whenever she comes onscreen and as Dodienne must fight to stay with her kids in Peter’s absence, the actress makes the audience feel all her heart-wrenching sorrow. It’s a vivid and powerful performance, to say the least.

There is a scene where the movie shows the photographer capturing the scars on Peter’s back that is hard to look at but necessary to understand the horrifying circumstances which Peter had to survive in. Peter is told he looks like he’s defiant by a key character but Peter is actually fearless and full of hope underneath his horrifying exterior. His family keeps him motivated to do whatever is necessary in order to be reunited with them.

Emancipation has some fantastic action scenes. When Peter must single-handedly defeat an alligator, it’s quite intense and Fuqua has all the violent attack sequences done in such a way that the audience will be holding its breath while watching them. The scenes towards the end where Peter can either lay down and die or stand up and fight are absolutely remarkable from a cinematic standpoint. Smith delivers some of his best work to date in the last action scene of the picture.

Fuqua’s film is hopeful in that it shows how perseverance and the strength of the family unit can help human beings triumph over the seemingly impossible. Fuqua captures the intensity of the film’s situations to perfection. As Peter is hiding in a tree, one of the slave owners asks a captured slave to reveal Peter’s whereabouts. This is the type of scene that creates significant tension and Fuqua makes the audience anticipate what will happen next. There isn’t a lot of predictability here thanks to the way Fuqua stages his dramatic scenes within the picture.

In the end, there are some minor problems with Emancipation. Occasionally, the movie sinks into familiar territory such as when a young girl screams out that a “runner” slave is loose and there are some underdeveloped evil characters here for sure. Also, the movie could prove too bleak for some audiences at times given the lack of color in many of the scenes. These flaws, aside, though, Will Smith rarely, if ever, hits a false note with a performance that the actor adds to an already impressive body of work.

Antoine Fuqua’s direction ultimately exceeds expectations and by the film’s end, there are a lot of expressive emotions conveyed by the characters of Peter and Dodienne. Fuqua is a skillful filmmaker who knows how to craft a movie that will reward dedicated viewers. Smith and Fuqua prove to be a formidable team and make Emancipation a success.

Rating: 8/10

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