Mass shootings continue to be a shameful stain on contemporary American history. They strike at such a frequent rate that the way they occupy news cycles before losing the public’s short-spanned at…
among others, “Emanuel” turns the nation’s eye on the victims’ loved ones, who appeared in court 48 hours after white supremacist Dylann Roof’s evil acts and faced the hate-filled racist with an unexpected weapon: forgiveness.The first surviving family member we meet is Nadine Collier, who lost her mother Ethel Lance to the tragedy. She invites us into her kitchen, baking a sweet potato pie, telling fond memories of her childhood that involves her caring mom.
These powerful talking-head interviews, composed, lit and shot tastefully with artistic intent, are peppered with a crowded array of historians, scholars and other experts on the racial history of Charleston. We are told the town was a major port for slave trade back in the pre-Civil War years, responsible for nearly 40% of the country’s slave population.
Ivie accompanies the abovementioned historical context by occasional dramatic reenactments; a strange creative choice that briefly cheapens his otherwise refined film. Still, this directorial miscalculation doesn’t lessen the impact of Ivie’s overarching message, when the filmmaker returns to his core group and their generous stories of unparalleled humanity.
A glaring blind spot of “Emanuel” is the long-term, possibly damaging implications of forgiveness: what a seemingly bighearted act might deny scores of justly angry people who don’t share the same mindset. Ivie only briefly gives a voice to activists who prefer to express their rightful fury, acknowledging but not unpacking their historically and politically valid perspective.
However naïve, Ivie ends on the exact hopeful note he pursues, respecting those who rise above their grief with clemency, who counter hate with love. Most of all, “Emanuel” demonstrates forgiveness is hard work that requires a divine-level of fortitude. Especially when it comes at direct odds with the ones you hold dear.: A Fathom Events release of a Arbella Studios, SDG Pictures, Fiction Pictures producxtion. Producers: John Shepherd, Mike Wildt. Dimas Salaberrios.
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