If you paid any attention at all in one or more of your American History courses, there is one image that I can almost guarantee you have seen.  It is of Peter (Will Smith), sometimes called Gordon, a former slave on a Louisiana plantation that made his way to freedom.  In the picture, we see Peter’s back, crisscrossed grotesquely with cruel scars from his master’s whip.  It says everything you need to know about the insidious nature of slavery.  I have gazed upon this picture many times, but must confess to never looking into the story of its subject.  Emancipation (2022) attempts to do that, but decides to take a few historical liberties along the way.  All the same, it does not take away from the fact that slavery existed, it was terrible, and that those in bondage were eager to do almost anything to get out of it.  What warms the heart of this Catholic reviewer is seeing the acknowledgement of the role of Faith in these desperate endeavors.

Perhaps “warmth” is the wrong word to use when talking about Emancipation because it is filmed with this weird blend of black and white and pale color.  I am not sure the reason for this, but it does play well to the dirt and grime of history we see on display.  Before we get to that, though, I was cheered by the opening seen.  Peter is washing the feet of his wife Dodienne (Charmaine Bingwa), quoting the Bible while doing so.  He is trying to remind her that God is with them as he is about to be taken away by the Confederate government.  Despite the opening credits talking about President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freeing all those held in bondage in states then under rebellion, he is still a slave on a Louisiana plantation.  The government has come to the owner of the massive cotton farm to requisition property for the war effort.  Peter’s distraught family watches him go while he promises to return to them.  When he gets to his destination, it is difficult to see how this could be possible.  He and other slaves are under constant armed guard as they are forced to labor to build a railroad through the sweltering swamp.  If they step out of line, particularly by running away, they are hunted down by Jim Fassel (Ben Foster) and his men and dealt with brutally.  Torture and other unspeakable forms of torture are common, and it seems some offenders end up with their heads on a pike.  Peter, though, does not let it change his focus, which gets a boost when he overhears two Confederates talking about the Emancipation Proclamation.  This emboldens him and a few others to escape at the first opportunity.  It might have come sooner than expected as Peter is asked to bury a deceased fellow slave.  Because he had shown defiance, the guards intend to kill him, but he does not let this happen.  In the resulting chaos, he and three others take off into the woods.  It is this group that Jim and his comrades, along with a pack of dogs, pursue.  Peter’s ultimate goal is to get to Baton Rouge where the Union Army is, it being the safest place.  To get there, he knows he must stick to the swamp where it will be harder for those chasing him to track him.  Not long after losing one of their number because he did not want to risk crossing alligator infested waters, Peter tells them that they must split up in order to further confuse their pursuers.  From here, we concentrate on Peter and the many ingenious methods he conceives of to stay a step ahead of Jim and his men.  I will not describe them all, but if you have seen any other film featuring an escapee being hunted down, then you get the picture.  Again, we also witness the incredible trials Peter must overcome, particularly as they pertain to the wounds he suffers as he goes.  He is finally caught when one night he stumbles out of the wilderness and onto a plantation house that is in the process of burning down.  Going inside, he finds a little girl on the point of death, and brings her outside in the hopes of saving her.  That is where Jim’s men find him.  Peter manages to overpower Jim’s two associates, and kill their dog, which only further enrages the slave catcher.  Still, Peter manages to once more get away, and ends up on the bank of a river with Yankee gunboats in sight.  In other words, he is close to his target until he set upon again by Jim.  Fate intervenes one last time, now in the form of African American Union soldiers led by Captain Andre Cailloux (Mustafa Shakir).  They kill Jim before he can do the same to Peter, and take Peter to be treated for his injuries.  Upon being nursed back to health, he is given the option of laboring for the Union Army in a similar fashion to what he had been doing for the Confederates, or join the ranks.  Though he is angry about this because of the Emancipation Proclamation, he chooses the military.  On the eve of going into battle, some well-meaning photographers come to take his picture, which is when we get the image referred to in the introduction.  He then fights, almost dying again, but playing a key part in winning the day.  The last sequence shows him marching into his old plantation with his fellow soldiers.  Eventually, he finds his family, including Dodienne, and the last shot is of them all embracing.

Before he gets his Emancipation, the film takes pains to show Peter’s Faith.  Though it is not specifically said, I am going use my extensive American History education and say that he is Catholic.  He clearly can speak French, or at least the Haitian patois, which would suggest having learned about God from the Church.  It is also stated that he is originally from Haiti.  This would be unfortunate, and strange, since Haiti is the first colony to undergo a successful slave uprising, taking place in 1804 and leading to the establishment of the modern state.  The historical Peter does not appear to have any connection to the Caribbean nation, so I have no idea how they landed on this idea.  Anyway, however he came to the Faith, I am glad to see that he did not waver in his belief that God would guide him.  The kinds of things he went through would be enough to test any man, and the Bible has examples of people breaking, like Jonah.  Peter remains steadfast, even seeing visions of the Almighty.  Adding to this is when one of his fellow workers questions the existence of God.  The question posed to Peter is a classic one, asked by many people in desperate situations: if God exists, then why are bad things happening to me.  I have seen the difficulty this idea poses to even the strongest Christian.  We know that God is love, and the film repeats this concept.  Thus, how can a loving God let bad things happen?  Peter has a fascinating, though ultimately incomplete answer.  He says that he does not know why God speaks to some people and not others.  What would have made this statement truer is if he had said that God speaks to everyone, just in different ways, but you have to learn how to listen.  That is far wordier way of saying essentially the same thing, but it must be emphasized that God is constantly trying to communicate with each of us, especially those in bondage.

I could go on for quite a while talking about the Catholic perspective in Emancipation.  What I will end on, however, is the miracle of Peter’s escape and reunion with his family.  It could only have been Divine intervention that brings a person through such adversity, like the Jews of the Old Testament.  If any of this interests you, I must give you a fair warning.  There is a reason why it is rated R, and the blood and gore, not to mention the mud, is difficult to watch.  Still, I can take that and some historical liberties for the payoff at the end.