‘Antebellum’ creator says Black people shouldn’t ‘participate in erasure’ of slavery stories
Hollywood and its dodgy trajectory with slavery narratives has a new movie to add to the mix.
Lionsgate’s “Antebellum,” released Friday, marks the first feature film leading role for Janelle Monae – the eight-time Grammy Award-nominated singer who previously turned out remarkable performances in Oscar-kissed films such as “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures.”
Produced, written and directed by interracial couple Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz, the 106-minute film has been marketed in the horror genre, as it isn’t the typical antebellum fare – despite its name. The suspense-drama is actually a contemporary movie with a triggering twist that conjures elements of acclaimed films such as “12 Years A Slave,” “Get Out” and 2019 1/4 u2032s “Harriet.”
Some of the scuttlebutt on social media denounced the film as another attempt to demoralize Black people, who’ve grown weary and are tired of seeing images depicting what is considered America’s greatest atrocity.
Bush, an award-winning advertising executive turned filmmaker, understands some of the thinking behind that but wants Black people to be more considerate of understanding the fullness of the heinous history – like other ethnic groups.
“For me, it’s really uncomfortable seeing people that look like me in bondage,” he told The New York Times. “But what I’ve come to understand is that it is a detriment to us when we are participants in the erasure of the truth because of our discomfort with confronting it.”
“I look at our wonderful Jewish community and how they are vigilant in the protection of the truth and making sure that the horrors of the Holocaust are examined and re-examined,” the 47-year-old Texas native added. “We do ourselves a gross disservice in our unwillingness to explore these stories. The past is going to continue to haunt our present and rob us of our collective future if we don’t confront it.”
With a 27% Rotten Tomatoes score, the psychological thriller – about a super-woke, best-selling Black intellectual whose worst nightmares become a brutal reality – didn’t quite strike the right chord with film critics and cinefiles.
But the film fared a bit better with audience score of 64%.
On Monday, “Antebellum,” was the #1 movie streaming on Fandango’s transactional video-on-demand services, Vudu and FandangoNOW.
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