Antebellum
Name: Antebellum
Directed By: Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz
Subgenre: Period Piece Thriller
Series: Spooktober 2020 entry #25; review #87
Review: So, slavery is bad, right? Right. Very good. Slavery, specifically chattel slavery in the antebellum period of American history (antebellum, in this case, referring to the period prior to the American Civil War), was an objectively horrible institution that destroyed the lives of countless black people and laid the foundations for systematic prejudice that marginalized peoples today--and black people in particular--face on a daily basis. With all of the racial injustices coming to light in the U.S. every day, transplanting those narratives onto the existing template of the existential horror that people who were enslaved felt on a daily basis seems like a simple formula for, well, evoking all of the emotions related to the genre: fear, rage, disgust, shock, terror, and the like. But, can it be done well? That's the question Antebellum seeks to answer, and it does so with middling success. The story follows our main dame (please update your Main Dame counter for the month), the successful author Veronica Henley, as she is thrust back into the life of a slave in the deep South. As such, the film cuts between bright, sweeping plantation shots and darker, sterile, but familiar scenes of New Orleans. Regardless of whether the film fully capitalized on the ideas it brings to the table, the cinematography is stellar, especially during the antebellum scenes: the vivid colors contrast so starkly with the content of what's taking place. Veronica's story weaves between the two scenes clunkily--there's no weaving at all, actually; rather there are two discrete stories placed side-by-side until the Shyamalan-esque twist is revealed precipitating the third act. That said, the twist is compelling enough and serves to amp up the tension as Veronica's story comes to a close. The transitions can be jarring, especially because of how lengthy each element can be--the introductory arc is roughly 40 minutes long. Unfortunately, I found the antebellum scenes to be more intriguing than modern ones: the latter serves to showcase Veronica's life and contrast it with her enslaved self's, as well as quite literally telling you, the audience, what the film's thesis is: "the unresolved past can wreak havoc on the present." While the film is an exploration on that idea in general, the subtleties and nuances are left in the background, for better or worse. Unfortunately, the rest of her modern life adds little to the plot besides telling us that "Veronica was living a good life." As great as Gabourey Sidibe is, her character is almost entirely unnecessary given the version we see. But, is it scary? Ah, that question again. Well, as mentioned before, slavery was pretty damn atrocious, so putting all of that institution's "greatest hits"--sexual assault, physical assault, dehumanization, murder, etc.--in the glimmering forefront is horrifying enough on its own, and the film's twist only serve to ratchet up the sociological disgust. But that's the kicker, most of the more disturbing elements are lead up to in gorgeous slow-motion tracking but then take place off-screen. Most of the elements of the film end up feeling shallow by the time the credits roll. At the end of the day, Antebellum is a socially-focused thriller that makes its message fairly clear, choosing to show rather than tell, except for elements that make it a horror movie. It's gorgeous and clumsy and important and shallow all in one sitting.
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