To look at Gordon’s back is to see a map of a country forged in brutality. He was an enslaved person and, in March of 1863, he managed to escape from the plantation where he was imprisoned. After a harrowing forty mile journey, he reached Baton Rouge and the safety of the Union Army. 

Two moments of note occurred during his examination. The first was when he said this:

Ten days from to-day I left the plantation. Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer. My master was not present. I don’t remember the whipping. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping and my sense began to come—I was sort of crazy. I tried to shoot everybody. They said so, I did not know. I did not know that I had attempted to shoot everyone; they told me so. I burned up all my clothes; but I don’t recall that. I never was this way (crazy) before. I don’t know what make me come that way (crazy). My master come after I was whipped; saw me in bed; he discharged the overseer. They told me I attempted to shoot my wife the first one; I did not shoot any one; I did not harm any one. My master’s Capt. John Lyon, cotton planter, on Atchafalya, near Washington, Louisiana. Whipped two months before Christmas.

The second moment was the taking of the photograph of his back. It’s an image that’s as iconic as it is nightmarish. The circulation of that photo acted as undeniable proof of the horror of slavery* and inspired newly freed people to join the Union Army. That image also acts as the inspiration for Emancipation, a handsomely-made film based on Gordon’s experiences that’s never as immersive as it ought to be.

Here, Gordon is named Peter (Will Smith). We meet him tenderly washing the feet of his wife, Dodienne (Charmaine Bingwa), as their children surround them. They are enslaved, and other than the small shack they live in, their family has nothing but their faith and each other. That doesn’t even last when Peter is abruptly hauled away. He learns he’s been sold to the Confederate war effort.

The labor camp is harsh, brutish, and overseen by the kinds of people you’d expect to support the Confederacy. Peter is brutalized, yet he stands up for himself and others. He holds eye contact with his captors. This attracts the attention of Fassel (Ben Foster), a notorious slave hunter. He tortures Peter, mocks his faith, and calmly tells him, “I am your God.”

Then, Peter and three other men see a chance for escape. Peter overhears talk of the Union Army having taken Baton Rouge. The journey there would be long and dangerous, but not impossible. If he can survive, perhaps he can return to rescue his family. That kind of choice is no choice at all, and they bolt into the swamps, with Fassel and his thugs hot on their trail. 

The four men hastily devise a plan. They’ll split up to increase their chances of success, then individually head for the relative safety of Baton Rouge. As a result, Peter is alone in the swamps, and must deal with the elements, alligators, bees, and the implacable Fassel.  He has nothing but wits and faith to rely on. 

While Emancipation isn’t bad, it’s really a genre movie that wants to be viewed as prestige Oscar-bait. I like director Antoine Fuqua quite a bit, and he’s well-known mostly for entertaining action movies such as The Equalizer and Olympus Has Fallen. Training Day got him Oscar attention, and a Best Actor award for Denzel Washington, but I don’t think he made Emancipation in order to stack up awards.

Rather, the subject resonates with Fuqua. He takes time to show us the hell that Peter and his family dwell in, the casual cruelty inflicted upon them by White people who are clearly terrified of them. Those moments have some power, but you can feel the energy of the film ramp up during the extended chase sequence through the swamp and a third-act Civil War battle. As an action filmmaker, Fuqua likes utilizing stylish options such as slow-motion and propulsive fight sequences. The problem is, that style reminds us that we’re watching a movie instead of immersing us in the reality of Peter’s struggles. There’s also a recurring problem with a lack of geography. Over and over, Peter runs, crawls, swims, and boats while Fassel remains right on his tail. I kept thinking, “Surely Peter has traveled several miles by now, so how is it that Fassel is able to just appear behind him like a cornpone Michael Myers?”

The screenplay by William Collage is at its strongest portraying Peter on the run. I liked the moments of problem solving, where we see him outthinking his pursuers and dealing with immediate issues. I also liked a subplot focusing on Dodienne and the kids doing whatever they can to buy Peter a little extra time. Where the script falters is in characterization. Beyond being a laconic man of faith, I never had a strong sense of who Peter was. He’s written as an understandably emotionally closed off man, but there needed to be a small moment letting us in. 

There’s a small moment like that that tries to humanize the wicked Fassel, and the script needed a little more. As written, he’s mostly a two-dimensional sadist. If he’d been given more weight and if we’d seen that he genuinely believes he’s a good person doing the right thing, it would have made him into a more powerful antagonist.

Decades in the spotlight cemented how we feel about Will Smith. He became a star by playing a number of roles as a charismatic and charming chatterbox. Fairly or not, the incident at the Academy Awards early this year changed his cinematic persona. Despite the fact that Emancipation went into production prior to The Slap, the way Smith plays the role of Peter feels like a response. He represses his natural charisma and utters as few words as possible. With his jaw jutting out, he plays a man who runs on determination. Smith shows us who he is mostly by what he does and how he does it. While his character is sympathetic, he’s not particularly likable. He doesn’t need to be, and I can’t help wondering if Smith will lean into harder edged and colder roles, or if he’ll try to get back into the good graces of the public.

As his pursuer Fassel, Ben Foster’s performance is practical and quiet. There’s very little histrionics and virtually no theatrics yelling about how evil he is. I liked Foster’s quiet professionalism, but I would have liked more glimpses at who Fassel is and how he feels about his world.

There’s very little hard information about Gordon in the historical record. If you look at that famous picture of him and focus, if you can, on his expression, you’ll learn a great deal. He wears a matter-of-fact look, one that alternatively accepts horror and refuses to be broken by it. Emancipation isn’t quite a film worthy of that man and his life. While it has the right motivations, it needs more scar tissue.

 

*It really goes to show you there are three groups of White people. The first are those who are comfortably racist. The second are those who are passionately anti-racist. The third are those who need to be convinced.



Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.