2 ½ Stars/4
“Origin” is an interesting and accurate adaption of Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 best seller Caste: Origins of Our Discontent. But as a compelling narrative it lacks emotion and real connection with the audience regarding its main thesis: Racism and antisemitism, and perhaps a number of other “isms,” are essentially based on a caste system which pigeonholes classes of people into inescapable hierarchies from which there is no escape. We are born into these classes and there is little tolerance for mixing the classes or making advancement.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor performs convincingly as author Wilkerson. She is beautiful, articulate and sophisticated; but as the first person narrator (so to speak) she fails to make the case that classifying racism as caste advances the case for social justice. What is lacking in this film is a sense of soul.
Yes, the love demonstrated between Wilkerson and her husband Brett (Jon Bernthal), her mother Ruby (Emily Yancy) and her cousin Marion (Niecy Nash) is heartwarming and provides an opportunity to add a human aspect to a rather dry academic discussion. Without the human aspect, this film comes across as a doctoral candidate defending her thesis. The thesis being that white supremacy, Nazism, racism and other prejudices have their roots in an ancient caste system. Even if we embrace this thesis, what are we to take away from this film?
My ultimate question is: So what? Does this tidy classification make all of the injustices inflicted on the hopelessly down-trodden classes of people across the globe less real or more palatable? For Wilkerson, making the connection between racism and caste was an “aha” moment – but not for me. I did find the book Caste engaging – though not a major page-turner. Director Ava DuVernay’s earlier works regarding racism – “13th” and “Selma” – I found very compelling and they struck a chord on a visceral level. They each had a powerful impact on their audiences, too. They had a certain punch which “Origin” simply lacks.
One ray of hope suggested in the film is evidenced in modern Germany’s treatment of the holocaust and the rise and fall of Nazism. There are no memorials to fallen Nazis in Germany. The sites where crimes were committed against its own citizens in the name of “racial purification” are held up as constant reminders of its shameful past. The country has owned its role in advancing its hideous crimes against humanity. This has yet to happen in the USA, where there are still monuments to our racist past and indigenous people are still segregated on “reservations.”
From an intellectual and historical perspective it is worth seeing this film. While the thesis is interesting, I cannot see how it changes anything. I wish it did.
I saw this film from the front row at my favorite theater, Park Plaza Cinema.
McVitty Movie Reviews 