Emancipation – A Lesson Of Squandered Potential

Emancipation marks the much-anticipated team-up between Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua. However, recent events earlier this year have shifted that narrative from what was once seen as a potential Oscar contender to a piece of media that even Smith stated he would understand if people didn’t see because of his past actions. In short, Emancipation was in a strange place with an even greater uphill climb before now dropping on Apple TV+.

Setting those circumstances aside, Emancipation tells the story of Peter (Smith), a slave who is separated from his family in Louisiana on the cusp of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln stating that slaved men and women were to be freed. Still within the last gasps of the Civil War, the South, especially Louisiana, did not abide by this declaration. Upon hearing this news, Peter takes it upon himself to embark on a journey for not only his freedom but also to be reunited with his family once again. Fuqua immediately captures the bleakness of slavery in the face of their oppressors through the chosen cinematography, a washed-out palette mixed with a greyish hue. In addition, the camera undergoes several large sweeping shots from a wider perspective throughout the film to emphasize the gruesome nature of what was transpiring on the plantations and battlefields. Whether intentional or not, it appeared to callback to the similar camerawork in Gone With the Wind, specifically the sweeping shot at the railyard, albeit from a much different and more authentic perspective, of the South during the Civil War.

Peter’s escape takes him deep into the swamps of Louisiana as the movie shifts to becoming more of an elongated chase scene that lasts well into the film’s running time. Throughout this, he is forced to confront not only man as his captors close in on him and any other escapees but also nature as he ends up having to fight a gator for survival. For much of the duration, Peter is on the run and is constantly under duress of some kind with the only thing keeping him going being the memory and hope of reaching his family once again.

It is when Emancipation begins to reach its third act that the film changes its tone and becomes something almost completely different than when Peter’s journey started. In the span of ten minutes, viewers see Peter reach the end of his journey only to be whisked away by his rescuers to a new adventure without his consent. From there, he is thrust into a war, not of his choosing, and partakes in a battle he never thought imaginable only to survive and then by circumstance be directed to the plantation where his family resides. It all felt plucked and tacked onto the end of a different film because Peter’s life story, and more importantly his ending, needed to be told but they were running out of time to do so properly.

Ultimately, Emancipation will leave viewers with a disjointed experience where Fuqua and Smith merely created something with an abundance of style but little substance. With a story as intense and compelling as Peter’s, which is also based on a real-life figure, the film should have demanded more of an emotional investment from its audience but instead, it chose to focus on the appearance and energy of its end product rather than implanting a stronger message in its viewer’s minds by the credits.

While it’s apparent that Smith expertly embodied the lead role and Fuqua the same behind the camera, Emancipation leaves much to be desired and should be seen as a lesson of squandered potential or an artful vision that needed to be refocused.

still courtesy of Apple

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Critics w/o Credentials

Trying my best to get all thoughts about TV and Film out of my head and onto the interweb.