Film review: Will Smith puts in the performance of his career in Emancipation
Will Smith is captivating as the indomitable Peter
★★★★☆
Emancipation (15A) opens in Louisiana in 1863 with the Civil War raging, and Haitian-born slave, Peter (Will Smith), dragged away from his wife, Dodienne (Charmaine Bingwa), and children and ‘put to war’ as a blacksmith in the service of the Confederate army.
With the Lord as his sword and shield, the devout Peter swears to return to his family; instead, Peter is put through the kind of trials that make Job’s lot seem like a Sunday picnic.
The slave labour camp where he’s put to work is a hell of backbreaking work, brutal punishments and casual murder, and soon Peter avails of the opportunity to run.
Pursuing him through the swamps is Fassell (Ben Foster), a cold-eyed killer who has never yet allowed a slave to escape.
Written by Bill Collage and directed by Antoine Fuqua, Emancipation – which is based on a true story – is a gripping account of survival against all the odds.
It’s not just that Peter is being hunted by Fassell and his slavering hounds: it’s that the South’s entire culture – from the innocent-looking child who betrays him to the preacher who underpins slavery by quoting from the Bible – is ranged against Peter, and that’s before we factor in the alligators and snakes infesting the swamps.
Will Smith puts in one of the most captivating performances of his career as the indomitable Peter: beaten he may be (the photographs of his wounds would spread around the world and galvanise the campaign against slavery), but he remains unbowed to the end.
