Emancipation

Emancipation (2022) is set in Louisiana in 1863. An enslaved man named Peter is taken from his wife and children and sent to build a railway. He escapes and crosses the swamps to reach Union lines at Baton Rouge. Its starting point is a single photograph. The image taken in 1863 and known as Whipped Peter showed a man's back torn apart by the lash, and it became one of the most powerful pieces of evidence the abolitionist movement had. The film tries to construct the life behind it. Antoine Fuqua directed and Will Smith plays Peter. Several things happened around the production. Filming had been planned for Georgia; Smith and Fuqua refused to shoot there because of the state's voting restrictions, saying they could not in good conscience provide economic support to a government enacting such laws. The move cost roughly fifteen million dollars. It was shot in New Orleans in July and August 2021 with a short pause for Covid cases. Apple bought distribution rights for over 130 million dollars, outbidding Warner Bros., MGM, Lionsgate and Universal. Smith was paid 35 million for the role. The release was delayed after the March 2022 Oscars incident. It opened in cinemas on 2 December 2022 and reached Apple TV+ on 9 December. Reviews were mixed; Smith's performance was praised and the screenplay's handling of the history was not. It runs 132 minutes. Good for: historical survival narratives, Antoine Fuqua's visual manner, and Will Smith. Less good for: the violence is very graphic and the whipping scenes are long. The desaturated image is an aesthetic choice that was said to work against the subject. Everyone other than Peter is thinly written.