Will Smith is going to remember this year 2022 well, and not exactly for anything good. Stepping onto the Oscars stage and facing off against host Chris Rock has taken a toll on his career, no matter how many awards he’s been able to amass to date.
So ‘Emancipation’, one of Apple’s new movies starring Will Smith, already leaves you with a weird feeling even before you see it. With all the studios rejecting the actor as punishment for what he did, Apple decided to continue filming this movie. And the result wasn’t quite bad, but it wasn’t quite good either.
resistance to slavery
I will respect the English title of the film and I will not mention the Spanish translation, because in my opinion it sins of being a divulge considerable. Search this translation at your own risk. The same could also be said of “emancipation”, although at least this one is more generic.
The film is about a black slave named Peter, who struggles to survive with his family under American Confederate rule in the midst of the Civil War in the United States. The sudden events of this war will have Peter challenge his masters and fight for his survival and freedom.
Will Smith does a great job, but the rest of the film surrounding him takes something away from him
Will Smith’s characterization and performance deserves a noteworthy rating: He has rarely been seen so far from his natural appearance, and the role he plays as a tough and determined character is part of a setting appropriate to the era in which the story is told. It’s not a Christmas movie, in this movie you suffer.
Where ‘Emancipation’ limps is that it fails to immerse you in its story. The plot sins of being predictable, and although the staging is very elaborate, you never feel part of it. This weighs down the rather long end of the film: two of the relatives with whom I saw it told me that there were too many images.
As positive elements, we can cite the good work of Will Smith and the faithfulness to the story of the slave ‘Whipped Peter’, a true story that culminates in an emblematic photograph. For all those who are passionate about history will find a good piece that tells a very important chapter of the United Statesbut I fear “emancipation” is something that will not be remembered.
