It was meant to be a moving film about a slave’s escape through the Louisiana swamps, but before it was released, Emancipation has received an unexpected label: it’s Will Smith’s first film since his Oscar slap. What worries its director, Antoine Fuqua.
Hollywood professionals were instead betting on a postponement due to the scandal, but Apple, which produces the feature film, decided to release it this weekend on US screens, despite fears of a possible boycott by the public. The film will be available in France on December 9 on Apple TV+.
“I am very concerned about this,” Antoine Fuqua told AFP, hoping his film’s message is not swallowed by the controversy surrounding its lead actor. “I hope we have enough compassion (…) to at least go see the work that he has provided, because his work in the film is extraordinary,” adds the director.
Before shocking the world by slapping comedian Chris Rock on the Oscars stage for a questionable joke about his wife’s hair loss, Will Smith had conquered Hollywood since the 1990s and “was a good man, in front of everyone.” us, for 37 years”. remember the filmmaker.
Inspired by real events.
Emancipation is inspired by the story of “Scourged Peter,” or “Scourged Peter,” a black slave who was handed down to posterity by barbaric treatment inflicted on him by his masters, before escaping from a cotton plantation during the American Civil War. Photos of his back, completely lacerated by the whipping, have gone down in history as indelible proof of the brutality of slavery.
Will Smith embodies this character who escapes the clutches of cruel masters, and whose escape Antoine Fuqua imagines through the sticky swamps of Louisiana, teeming with alligators, snakes and other dangers. The director films this quest for freedom as a suspenseful thriller, rather than a historical drama, and brings the abuses inflicted on slaves head-on. Brutal, the scenes of violence are reminiscent of those of the multi-Oscar movie 12 years a slave.
Malaise, one year after his episode of violence in the middle of the ceremony
Will Smith’s performance is undeniable, but many critics wonder if the actor’s return to the screens is premature, just eight months after his slap.
Banned from the Oscars for 10 years after resigning from the Academy himself, the former fresh prince of bel air in theory he can always be nominated and win a statuette. the exit ofEmancipation in December also allows Apple to propose its film to the Oscars 2023.
commemorative debates
Will Smith, who has apologized publicly, “was wrong” to get carried away at the last few Oscars, Antoine Fuqua insists, hoping he will reconcile with Chris Rock away from the spotlight. But “Will’s a good guy, I support him,” adds the director. During the difficult filming in the Louisiana swamps, the actor “never complained,” he stresses.
The filmmaker insists on the urgent need to leave Emancipationat a time when commemorative issues surrounding slavery are causing multiple tensions in the United States.
“There are discussions not to teach slavery in certain schools (…), as if they wanted to erase the past,” the filmmaker is outraged.
social problem
The Republican Party has strongly opposed reforms that considered changing the way slavery was taught and addressing systemic racism. American children should not “learn that our country is inherently evil,” Conservative Senate Chief Mitch McConnell and other lawmakers said last year.
Antoine Fuqua draws a parallel between this resistance and the clichés of “Peter whipped”, which were necessary to silence the voices that tried to minimize the horrors committed in the name of slavery at the end of the 19th century.
“That’s why it’s so important to keep museums open, to bring all these things to life,” he said. “Many children don’t even know what slavery is.”
Source: BFM TV
