Did you know the Nazis studied Jim Crow laws when they sought to oppress Jews? If you’re reading this, you probably did. But just in case, lemme elaborate: In the 1930s, high command of Nazi Germany sought to oppress and scapegoat Jews. And what blueprint did they follow to turn this evil into law? The Jim Crow segregation laws of the American South. Yeah, that’s right, the legal structures of the holocaust were inspired by Americans.
You can try to distance yourself all you want from that. But if you are American like me, this is our legacy.
In 2020, historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) wrote an intensely researched tome of non-fiction entitled Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The book encouraged us to look beyond simple racism to explore the societal problems we have inherited. Origin is the dramatic recreation of the research that went into the book.
This should have been a documentary. Origin is not a documentary. Why not? Well, for the first 120 minutes of film, I asked myself exactly that same question. The answer is because a documentary doesn’t get to recreate history in such vivid detail. Writer/director Ava DuVernay wanted to show us Jews being shaved in concentration camps … next to naked slaves chained together in ships bound for America … next to Dalits scrubbing shitpits in India. All of these things, believe or not, are related.
Isabel Wilkerson’s thesis is that the deep social problems of the world are facets of caste, not racism. While racism certainly exists, it is not the deeper problem; that belongs to artificial social structure. Why is this important? Isn’t this just “tomato/tomahto?” Well, it certainly is easy to conflate the two ideas when examining the history of the United States, however, going forward, similar problems will continue to exist even when all structural racism has been dismantled (but don’t kid yourself, that isn’t true yet).
You see, as long as there one group scapegoating another, the caste system still exists, oppression still exists, and national discontent still exists. Can you think of any group that goes
out of its way to oppress an entire group of people? Any group that, say, blanket rules against, I dunno, transgender folks, immigrants, Mexicans? A group that hates certain groups so much they’ll happily legislate against an entire group of people? This is the caste system in the United States. And if you didn’t recognize its implementation under the Trump administration, you either aren’t paying attention or are a willful dupe to the evil of republican politics.
So the film isn’t actually much of a film. I’m sorry, but it isn’t. I can sympathize with the work of Isabel Wilkerson and champion her until Trump actually does something selfless. Those things will never make Origin a genuine film with a genuine plot. Origin tells us a lot about the life of Isabel Wilkerson, her white husband Brett (John Bernthal), her mother (Emily Yancy), her cousin (Niecy Nash), etc. But, in essence, this is a film about a woman and her travelogue of oppression. It’s like if “The Amazing Race” only cared about social justice and the prize was getting published.
In Origin, moments in history have been recreated to illustrate research. But that’s not really plot so much as the window dressing at the horror store. Hence, while I respect the work of Isabel Wilkerson enough to enjoy the film marginally, I found it both long and plotless. However, I readily acknowledge that assessment as too harsh; Origin is an idea film, and so many films lack genuine ideas and ensuing discussion it would be a shame to harsh this one entirely. This is the kid of film that, like it or not, should be required viewing for every high school student in the United States.
There once was an angry historian
Who hit upon a thesis stentorian
She declared of the past
“It’s not race, it’s caste”
To get it, you don’t have to be valedictorian
Rated PG-13, 141 Minutes
Director: Ava DuVernay
Writer: Ava DuVernay, Isabel Wilkerson
Genre: Documentary in dramatic form
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: SJW
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Why isn’t this film a documentary?”
