PG-13 2023 2h 15m
Today was a long day. I was tired and my body was tired. It was a movie night and I was in the mood for a feel good comedy, but I wasn’t choosing the movie — AMC chose the movie for me tonight. (Check out AMC’s Screen Unseen series some time. It’s my new favorite way to see a movie. Maybe I’ll write a post about it.) Anyway, tonight’s movie selection ended up being the drama, Origin. I had seen a trailer for it and it looked like it would either end up feeling like homework or being a really sad affair. Certainly not what I was in the mood for tonight. As a testament to how good the movie is, it won me and my tired body over. I wholeheartedly recommend the movie. In fact, I recommend seeing it in the theater. Not because it’s a special effects-laden popcorn flick (it is not), but because the movie is all the more powerful by seeing it with others and without the distractions and multitasking that come along with a home viewing.
Origin uses the Trayvon Martin murder as a launching pad into the movie’s discourse on systemic racism and oppression. Although not a documentary, viewers of the movie may learn as much watching the movie as they would by visiting a history museum. Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) is an award-winning writer who sets out to untangle the connections between the treatment of Blacks in America, Jews in Nazi Germany, and Dalits (historically referred to as Untouchables) in India. The movie shines light on under-appreciated anthropologists; legally-imposed endogamy (the cultural practice of mating within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group); and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of the Dalits.
We follow Isabel around the world as she interviews scholars and everyday people about these historic and ongoing injustices. We accompany her on the academic exercise of building her thesis. This journey culminates in her book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, which the movie is based upon. I didn’t mean to scare you away by mentioning “learning” or “history museum.” The movie doesn’t try to hide the points it is making but layered along with the facts is the drama of Isabel’s personal life and the stories that are shared by those she is interviewing. As a drama, Origin can hold its own. I would argue that it is a better drama than either of the recent biographical dramas Oppenheimer or Killers of the Flower Moon. Ellis-Taylor is an excellent lead and there are numerous scene-stealing performances by others throughout the movie.
So, go see the movie. In the theater. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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