ORIGIN – Review

Much like the earlier reviewed ALL OF US STRANGERS, here’s another “indie” film that’s now getting a “wide rollout” after end-of-the-year screenings on the coasts. And yes, it could have been out everywhere in the last couple of months, but it seems that it’s more pertinent now than ever, since the presidential election cycle began with the Iowas caucus just days ago. No, it’s not about someone running for office, but its subject is a major discussion of any political discourse, going back to the beginnings of the US. And that subject is race. Now this new film doesn’t focus on one particular historical event, much like the filmmaker Ava DuVernay did with SELMA, now ten years ago. This delves much deeper into it, as she travels the globe, and explores different eras, all in adapting a lauded scholar’s investigation into racism’s ORIGIN.

The film begins with a flashback to a tragic racially motivated killing over a dozen years ago (you’ll recognize it after a few brief sequences). Then the story jumps ahead a bit as historian/author Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) finishes up a lecture. Afterward, she is approached by literary associates about writing an investigative book about that incident. But life calls her away as she moves her aging mother into assisted living and preps the old family house for resale. During this time she meets the son of a neighbor, Brett Hamilton (Jon Bernthal), beginning a romance that leads to marriage. But when he’s taken, Isabel recalls his last words which urged her to take on the discussed tome. She’s further nudged by her BFF cousin Marion (Niecy Nash), though Isabel decides to tackle the story and radically expand the work. Yes, the killing would be part of it, but Isabel wants to place it into an examination of racism itself, not just in the USA, but around the globe and through the centuries. She then starts “racking up” the frequent flyer miles, by traveling to Germany to learn of two American students caught up in the rise of Nazism, and of a forbidden love between a “pure Aryian” and a Jewish woman. Back in the States, Isabel looks into a research investigation that compared the experiences of two young married couples, one white, and one black, back in the pre-civil rights South. Then it’s off to India to explore the still-in-use “caste” system which divides society into different social, economic, and working classes as Isabel gets a tour by the country’s first “untouchable” collegian.

After impressing audiences as the Williams matriarch in KING RICHARD a couple of years ago, Ms. Ellis-Taylor is superb as the compassionate caring scholar who is the heart of this world-spanning historical essay. Her intelligence is established early on and gradually we see Isabel as a loving daughter and wife before her role as a truth-seeker. Ellis-Taylor shows us her inquisitive nature while never masking Isabel’s sense of wonder at the world tempered with her shock over the actions of its people through the years. She’s a terrific screen partner, whether we see her begin to fall for the charismatic Bernthal, who easily switches from his usual “working class hero/villain” roles, or trading affectionate barbs with cousin Marion, played with a fun-loving spunk by the energetic Nash. Ellis-Taylor is also effective as she discusses, and often disagrees with, a German historian, given passion and logic by Connie Nielsen. Another standout is real-life scholar Gaurav J. Pathania as Isabel’s guide (and the film’s third act narrator/teacher) who calmly recounts the mind-boggling class divisions in India with some truly heartbreaking degradations that still occur. And I should single out an “extended cameo” by the great Nick Hofferman as a plumber whose hard demeanor hides a warm soul and Audra McDonald whose character tells of how sexism enters the “big conflict”.

As mentioned earlier, director DuVernay takes a big swing at an even bigger target and connects for much of the time in her adaptation of Wilkerson’s “Caste: The Origins of our Discontents”. It’s a daunting endeavor that could’ve been a series of “talking head” dissections. But DuVarney puts us inside the pivotal events without tossing away the humanity. With Isobel’s travels the film could be called a cerebral investigative spin on EAT PRAY LOVE, but that would be dismissing the ideas and discourse that linger on well after the closing credits. DuVernay conveys the heartbreak of 30’s Germany and 50’s segregation, which have been in many previous films, but her deep dive into India makes for several sequences that will burn into your brain (involving public sanitation). And though you may not agree with many of the notions (the “shared genocide” debate will no doubt continue), everyone can agree that Ms. DuVernay has crafted an intellectual and emotional epic that will enthrall and educate in ORIGIN.

3 Out of 4

ORIGIN is now playing in select theatres