Origin

Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”

Points for creativity: Determined to adapt Isabel Wilkerson's summer-of-2020 bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, but struggling to craft a story out of a nonfiction history book that doesn't have a narrative, Ava DuVernay borrows a trick from Charlie Kaufman and instead makes a movie about Wilkerson writing the book. Caste is a heavy book about depressing subject matter, and this period in Wilkerson's life is marred by traumatic upheaval, so this isn't going to be a joyous, feel-good movie—the opening sequence depicts the murder of Trayvon Martin, so there's no doubt about what kind of horrors lie ahead—and yet, the movie makes the sad journey worthwhile, by putting each tragedy towards the purpose of supporting Wilkerson's ambitious thesis. The most powerful sequence in a movie full of them might be the narration of Wilkerson's "pillars" of caste, the eight recurring features of caste systems that make them function, which is positioned in the film as a triumphant achievement: Yes, Wilkerson could draw the connections that other people couldn't see, and yes, these connections really do matter. The film has some of the best acting and cinematography of the year, and yet those feel like afterthoughts in a movie with so much on its mind. This film adaptation is a huge accomplishment and well worth seeing.

− December 31, 2024 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply