Starring Will Smith in his first role after winning an Oscar and being embroiled in a controversy at the 2022 ceremony, the movie is inspired by the true story of an enslaved man who escaped a plantation during the Civil War, later to become a living rallying point for the abolitionist cause.
Emancipation is a 2022 American historical action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and co-produced by Will Smith, who stars as a runaway slave headed for Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the 1860s, after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to end slavery in secessionist Confederate states, ...
Producers have described the film as “inspired by” a true story: the scars were exposed to the world in a photo, which became known as “Whipped Peter,” or “The Scourged Back,” which helped to galvanize anti-slavery sentiment around the nation. The man portrayed by Smith is known today only as Gordon.
Peter ( fl. 1863) (also known as Gordon, or "Whipped Peter", or "Poor Peter") was a self-emancipated, formerly enslaved man who was the subject of photographs documenting the extensive scarring of his back from whippings received in slavery.
That Emancipation is somewhat distinguished by being filmed in black-and-white was Fuqua's choice, in order to “drain the color out of the Confederacy,” though there are desaturated “tinted” color accents added with blood, fire, the American flag, and other elements.
[A]s an action, [Emancipation is] not half-bad... But looking at it in the context of a somehow burgeoning field of slave narratives, the lack of nuance feels not only lazy but exploitative.
Offenses such as talking back to a white person, stealing, fighting, lying, loitering during work time, arguing, traveling without a pass, and selling or buying goods without the consent of the master often resulted in slave whippings, and in a number of instances these beatings ended in death.
For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.
RadarOnline.com reports that moviegoers were not so impressed either, as the movie with a $120 million production cost, recorded just an average of $3000 per screening. All of which dismayed the 54-year-old-actor, who had been targeting for a comeback.
"What often gets lost is the focus on the man himself - the story of this man who understands that the Civil War is an opportunity to literally take ownership of his body and his life." Will Smith's film Emancipation is inspired by the true story of Gordon/"Whipped Peter" and directed by Antoine Fuqua.
The film, completed months before Smith strode onto the Oscars stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock for a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, was a grueling shoot.
Smith plays Peter as a man of faith, penitent before his god, but defiant of men. He speaks French with his family and heavily accented English to all others.
Despite some reports that there was no real Mrs. Smith behind the iconic brand of pies, there was indeed an Amanda W. Smith who lived on South Street in Pottstown and baked deep-dish fruit pies and Pennsylvania Dutch pies.
However, "Emancipation did not perform well at the box office," Lieberman said. "It was supposed to be his comeback to the big screen after 'Slapgate,' but it was a flop." It's hard to tell how much Smith's actions at the previous Academy Awards affected the release of Emancipation.
Men, women, and children were captured to such a devastating extent that vast numbers of sea coast towns were abandoned. According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries.
In 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
Evidence of slavery predates written records; the practice has existed in many cultures and can be traced back 11,000 years ago due to the conditions created by the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution. Economic surpluses and high population densities were conditions that made mass slavery viable.
Whipping, a common form of slave punishment, demanded the removal of clothing. For the female slave, this generally meant disrobing down to the waist. Although her state of half dress allowed the woman some modesty, it also exposed her naked breasts to all eyes.
They would try beating him or putting on thumb screws or torturing him in some way in order to break him and make him eat; or they would force-feed him by forcing open his jaws and forcing food into him.
In regard to physical labor and hardship, enslaved women received similar treatment to their male counterparts, but they also frequently experienced sexual abuse at the hand of enslavers who used stereotypes of black women's hypersexuality as justification.
Although the cinematography was excellent, I felt that the movie relied too heavily on it and it wasn't enough to carry the movie. I feel that it was the script/story that felt too simplified. It felt rushed and edited to pieces....and just not thorough enough. The score was mediocre at best.
The interpretation of Will Smith who played as Peter was very good and he made the difference along with Ben Foster who played as Jim Fassel. To sum up, I have to say that "Emancipation" is a nice movie and I recommend you to watch it.
