The Story: In Louisana’s South, at the height of the Civil War, black slaves serve and please their white Confederate masters or die by gun shot or the fire shed. However, all is not what is seems, as Eden plots her freedom.
What I liked: First off kudos to black and queer writer/director Gerald Bush for turning his nightmare into a reality. I applaud you. Our black perspective is needed in all areas of life, including film and literature. There are so many of our stories that need telling. Even it’s about out ancestral trauma, because we are still processing and healing from it.
The artistry behind this film is pretty amazing. There are so many images that can be still captured and evoke a powerful message. What the message is might be a bit muddled, but bigger blockbusters released in this pandemic have evoked less.
As I watched I felt anger and horror, as I do with many movies depicting America’s original sin. The intro was powerful. I can see where the Jordan Peele-an (can that be a term now) horror sensibilities are recalled (Although fully executed..more on that later).
Slavery as horror isn’t new for film viewers or readers. Roots was ground breaking. Amestad stays with me. The Color Purple, Bluest Eyes, Beloved all deal in some ways with this theme. However, with the success of Get Out, there is a hunger for modernized stories from our POV. Antebellum suffices this craving at times, and it can be gruesome.
The bigger themes seem to be around losing identity and the legacy of ancestral trauma. There are allegories everywhere – whites as masters, this picturesque revisionist history of the South, confederate reenactments, a Statue of Robert E Lee…which begs the question when was America great? Who was/is it great for?
Racism kills the spirit whether it is overt or not, whether its past or present. It forces us to act near superhuman just as our protagonist must do to stay alive.
What I don’t Like: The film’s plot becomes pretty clear the end of the second act as it switches from present to not so distant past. I see the story it is trying to tell. In some places, those tiny tropes (scary white children in elevators/hallways) and other modern day microaggressions are felt deeply and immediately by woke viewers. This is something black and brown ancestors of enslaved people are hyper-aware of in America.
In other places, the story doesn’t go deep enough to the emotional core of that erasure of identity and the history/impact of slavery and those that benefited from it. I personally struggled with how quickly it appeared that “these slaves” accepted their fate. There were gaps that weren’t completed. Because they missed the significance of slavery, they missed the historical accuracy that would’ve really brought this nightmare too life.
A quick search of the term antebellum actually refers to pre-civil war south, which is confusing because the entire plot centers around confederate soliders camping on a plantation. This fact should alert viewers something isn’t right.
Films like “Get Out” and books like Kindred by the amazing Octavia Butler get at the struggle of identity and enslavement more effectively than Antebellum. I read Kindred in high school because a librarian suggested it to this budding horror fan/writer. It’s a page turner and a must read.
My Verdict: The ending of Antebellum focused on freedom and revenge, which the best kind of horrors should. While thematically it was done better in other stories, Antebellum is worth the viewing and the discussion it ultimately brings up. As a friend who watched it with me said, we should be glad it’s not in theaters, because there are points where the audience needs to pause, process, discuss, and press play again.
Stay ghoulish.
PS. Racism exist, and calls to make America Great Again is a dog-whistle to black and brown ears. There are those who hold to belief that people are inferior because of the color of their skin. Their privilege presents them with a rose-colored glasses of what life was like. I don’t doubt that there’s some who itch with the fantasy of reliving that life (as if their monuments and parades aren’t enough). We can not be okay with this. We must challenge this thought. The best exercise in that protest: vote. vote. vote.