Ava DuVernay’s ambitious film, a challenging adaptation of a bestselling novel, explores the divisions of the world in a way we haven’t really seen before
Stills from the film
Cast: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash, Emily Yancy, Vera Farmiga
Director: Ava DuVernay
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 141 min
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Ava DuVernay’s ambitious film, a challenging adaptation of a bestselling novel, explores the divisions of the world in a way we haven’t really seen before. “Origin,”attempts to reshape the discussion around race in the modern era. Isabel Wilkerson’s acclaimed book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, is basically brought to life in a sweeping cinematic exploration of human history. This film is basically a drama about the writing of a non-fiction book.
In the film, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who while navigating deep personal loss uncovers the rigid caste structures of societies worldwide. Her journey spans Nazi Germany, India and the United States. The non-fiction nature of the source may mark this as a film that is different from the traditional but the theme, performances and score just about makes the experience unforgettable.
‘Origin’ is about the unspoken system that has shaped America but the exploration of words and their usage in broad terms is valid for the rest of the world too. ‘Origin’ basically chronicles how lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
Following a sold-out public talk for her book The Warmth of Other Suns, her persistent editor Amari (Blair Underwood) asks the Pulitzer Prize-winning author to write about the murder of Trayvon Martin. Supported by her husband Brett (Jon Bernthal), Wilkerson begins to question the conditions that made it possible and how people responded to the incident. Then Wilkerson experiences acute grief when she loses the two people closest to her in her life. Thereafter She uses the initial ideas from her work on the Martin death to incorporate a worldwide investigation. In the process she examines how the structures that led to the Holocaust, the subjugation of the Dalits in India, and the slavery of Africans brought to the United States, have much in common. Her work eventually lead to the writing of the bestseller “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
In the process of her research Isabel ventures to India to meet with Dalit professor Suraj Yengde (as himself) to learn more about the Dalit activist Bhimrao Ambedkar (Gaurav J. Pathania).
“Origin” is a journalistic film in which we see a Black woman in a profession that is dominated by white people. Ellis-Taylor’s creation conveys the deep intellectual pursuits of Wilkerson on journeys to Germany and India with deep emotional heft. The final scenes of “Origin” are powerfully impactful as Wilkerson’s narrative exposes everything vile about castes in this world. The film’s greatest strength lies in its ambition. The film tackles weighty themes with unflinching honesty. Brutal historical reenactments force us to confront the ugly truths about humanity’s capacity for cruelty. The narrative structure feels disjointed at times, jumping between timelines and locations. The film also leans heavily on dialogue. Despite the academic nature of the subject ‘Origin’ manages to envision a drama that makes ‘Love’ the essential for confronting or wiping out all the hate in this world.
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