(Los Angeles) This was supposed to be a poignant film about a slave’s escape through the Louisiana swamps, but before it was released, Emancipation has been given an unexpected label: it is Will Smith’s first film since his Oscar slap. What worries its director, Antoine Fuqua.
Hollywood professionals were instead betting on a postponement because of the scandal, but Apple, which produces the feature film, decided to release it this weekend on US screens, despite fears of a possible public boycott.
“I am very worried about this,” Mr. Fuqua told AFP, hoping that his film’s message will not be swallowed up by the scent of sulfur surrounding its lead actor.
“I hope we have enough compassion […] to at least go see the work 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 over a questionable joke about his wife’s hair loss, Will Smith had conquered Hollywood since the 1990s and “was a man well, in front of all of us, for 37 years”, recalls the filmmaker.
Inspired by real events
Emancipation is inspired by the story of whipped petera black slave remembered for the barbaric treatment inflicted on him by his masters, before he escaped from a cotton plantation during the American Civil War.
The photos of his back, completely lacerated by the whippings, have gone down in history as indelible proof of the brutality of slavery.
Will Smith embodies this character escaping from the claws of cruel masters, and whose escape Antoine Fuqua imagines through the sticky swamps of Louisiana, filled with alligators, snakes and other dangers.
The director films this quest for freedom like a suspense thriller, more than a historical drama, and shows the abuse inflicted on slaves head-on. Brutal, the scenes of violence recall those of the multi-Oscar-winning film 12 years a Slave (Slave for twelve years).
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 ceremony for 10 years, after having himself resigned from the Academy, the former Prince of Bel Air can in theory still be selected and win a statuette. The output ofEmancipation in December also allows Apple to submit its film to the Oscars.
Memorial debates
Will Smith, who has publicly apologized, “was wrong” to get carried away at the last Oscars, insists Mr. Fuqua, hoping that he reconciles with Chris Rock away from the spotlight.
But “Will is a good guy, I support him”, adds the director. During the difficult shooting in the Louisiana swamps, the actor “never complained”, he underlines.
The filmmaker insists on the imperious need to go out Emancipationat a time when memorial issues around 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”, indignant Mr. Fuqua.
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 boss Mitch McConnell and other lawmakers said last year.
Mr. Fuqua draws a parallel between these resistances and the clichés of whipped peterwhich were necessary to silence the voices that tried to minimize the horrors committed in the name of slavery at the end of the XIXe century.
“That’s why it’s so important to keep museums open, to bring all these things to life,” he said. “A lot of children don’t even know what slavery is. »