In 2020, American journalist Isabel Wilkerson published her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, which delves into the issues of American racism by linking it to caste systems of hierarchical oppression in other societies like Nazi Germany and India -her premise essentially examining how societies for both the in-groups and outs have been shaped by arbitrary systems of dehumanization. It was a critical hit and a bestseller -within months of its release Ava DuVernay had signed on to make a movie adaptation. But how do you adapt that kind of a text? She could make it as a documentary, but that almost seems like too plain a way to translate it. Clearly what intrigued her as much as the concept was the process of coming to its inclusion. And so she made a movie that chronicles Wilkerson’s research and writing of that book, not just the travels and interviews but the intellectual parsing, illustrations of the threads that connect these massive themes to individuals through history and even in her own life -Wilkerson lost both her husband and mother shortly before starting the book.
The resulting film Origin is an epic and fascinating, mesmerizing study of caste ideology -an adaptation of a thesis more than a book- that makes its points extraordinarily strongly. Yet it is also a fundamentally compelling drama of one woman’s quest to understand what lies at the heart of injustice, roping her personal life and relationships into the study. Equally affecting as an outlet for political theory as it is a beautifully composed emotional journey, it is the most remarkable film that DuVernay has yet made -radical in its presentation of its messaging (as well as the messaging itself).
It pulls no punches from the start, opening bluntly on the murder of Trayvon Martin. The kind of thing that would come across cheaply -tasteless even- in the hands of a lesser filmmaker; but DuVernay handles it with a precisely struck harmony of sensitivity and sharpness. It is after all the catalyst for Wilkerson's pursuit, staunchly tied to the history and themes she so intuitively sets out to explore.
Wilkerson is played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, also a producer on the film, and we meet her as an already successful author and lecturer in the aftermath of this hate crime, tapped to look into a subject that she is not particularly interested in. She doesn't find racism on its own to be all that compelling a thing to investigate. But in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of both her supportive husband Brett (Jon Bernthal) and her mother Ruby (Emily Yancy), she finds herself rejuvenated in interrogating this topic with a newly gestating thesis.
Before Wilkerson even starts on this track, DuVernay establishes the links that will drive her research -honing in on the 1936 photograph of a Nazi rally and the one man who refused to give the salute, expanding on his story and alleged love affair with a Jewish woman under Wilkerson's dictatorial exposition. It’s a really clever way of translating an academic device -a source citation- to film. And yet it is not nearly so dry as that might sound; because this story as it recurs throughout the movie, alongside that of a pair of black academics studying segregation in the Deep South of the 1940s and later an Indian ‘Dalit’ man’s rise to political prominence across the early twentieth century, are told with a sense of intimate weight and emotionality. Even filtered through Wilkerson’s study of these figures, the pain and the boldness of a grand resistance spanning eras and continents (especially when these allusions come to encompass slavery as well) is communicated viscerally.
Framed alongside these snippets are intimate, personal reflections for Wilkerson, specifically times with Brett or her cousin Marion (Niecy Nash), that come to her mind, reinforcing the impact of these relationships and informing her certainty of direction. We don't see a lot of Brett, but DuVernay allows his impact to resound with sizeable weight in the beautiful glimpses we do get and his implied effect on Wilkerson's attitude and ideology. Only one scene makes note of the interracial component to their relationship, but it is clearly a factor in the way both Wilkerson and DuVernay legitimize the caste theory. The roots of human oppression, they authentically argue, cannot be fixed in race.
The arguments are such a powerful part; interviews and intelligent discussions that seamlessly translate that thrill of diving deep into a larger idea. Origin's brazen engagement with political systems and subjects through this feels especially astute -few American movies are willing to make the statements Wilkerson does here by mere fact of her job, few would take it upon themselves to educate so thoroughly. For instance, what other movie emphasizes so directly with citations how the architects of the Holocaust drew on American slavery and Jim Crow laws? What other modest-budget American movie would even address caste discrimination in India? -something most Americans have absolutely no knowledge of.
Pontificating on these subjects with striking passion and poise, Ellis-Taylor is magnificent in this performance. In playing a real and celebrated journalist, there’s not a drop of cynicism or disingenuousness to the highly flattering portrait she and DuVernay draw. On paper it is a fluff piece, in execution it is not that at all. A part of it may be due to how strongly the movie imparts its directive and themes -the subject of her research and its implications are so much bigger than herself. But I think it also comes down to how grounded and sympathetic Ellis-Taylor is, especially pertaining to Wilkerson’s own story. Yet she is staunchly secure and assured at the same time, a figure of enormous natural gravity. She brings such raw power to the virtues Wilkerson expresses, on both macro and micro levels, that you can’t help but be moved.
Bernthal is charming and lovable for his screen-time too, a model romantic partner in his support for his wife. Of the other performances in the movie it’s worth noting an early cameo from Nick Offerman as Wilkerson’s plumber -with a conspicuous MAGA hat- through whom DuVernay illustrates a modest empathy towards those drawn into the Trumpism cult. And then there’s Audra MacDonald as a woman Miss Hale, who shares a devastating story of racism she experienced from her school principal as a child. The interviews and the interactions with various figures relaying either stories or perspectives are some of the movie’s greatest points. The faulty debate with Connie Nielsen’s character over which is the greater national shame, slavery or the Holocaust. The account of an old man remembering a childhood swim day that his black friend couldn’t partake in. And everything that is related through Dalit scholar Suraj Yengde (played by himself) on caste history and philosophy in India.
All of it coalesces into the supreme overarching statement, formulated by Wilkerson, but very much of a mind with DuVernay. The connections aren’t just articulated plausibly and strongly, but with the richness at the greater understanding they yield. You get the impression that DuVernay was transformed by this book and wants to use the subject of its making to transform her audience as well. She has spoken about the movie’s visuals being less a priority than its talk, and while this may be the case, her evocative imagery and profound visions colour out the movie and add so much to its scale and emotional weight -whether it’s the psychological void of Wilkerson laying in the leaves with Brett or her mother, or the apparitions of each figure she researched appearing to her at the end, leading to a wrenching culmination.
Origin is more than DuVernay’s best movie, it is the crystallization of her singular filmmaking talents and politically charged aims -extraordinarily representative of both her philosophy and artistry. It speaks to our times and myriad crises of justice with the same passion that motivates Wilkerson, beautiful in spite of its forays into evil. By identifying the origin of these systems of oppression, it posits hope for the future. Knowledge is the hope for our future. DuVernay believes it, and the audience that hears her movie surely will too.
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JordanBosch
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jordan_D_Bosch
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jbosch
Comments
Post a Comment