Antebellum, preview review of the thriller on Prime Video
Antebellum, between civil war and contemporary female empowerment
The curtain opens in a cotton plantation confiscated by the Confederate army, where the military command ruthlessly, condemning to death black slaves who do not obey strict rules . Among these there is also a young woman, Eden, who was unable to escape from the dominion of the whites, branded on the skin by the commander of the garrison. New slaves arrive and are destined for forced labor. Among them, Julia seeks help in Eden to rebel, to escape, but the woman knows it is not easy; the situation is getting worse and the suffering more cruel.A nightmare, really, or maybe not. We still don't know. In fact, Eden wakes up, has had a bad dream, and above all it is not called Eden. In this film, singer Janelle Monáe plays the role of writer and equal opportunity activist, Veronica Henley, with a lovely husband and daughter, and deals with the racial issue, with particular reference to women of color. >
A_D07_0175.RAF The bond with the slaves that we observed for the first forty minutes or so of the film, however, is not accidental. If Veronica lets herself go to an evening with friends after a busy day at work, the car waiting for her outside the restaurant is not the Uber she booked. The absurd link that joins the two dimensions, the contemporary one of the lights of the metropolis and that of the nineteenth century that so much reminds us of films of the caliber of 12 years a slave, will be explained only in the very last minutes of the film, in an ending that left us with a bitter aftertaste.
Only the unfolding of the plot will make it suitable for the excesses and the almost surreal and spooky acting of situations and characters present since the beginning of the film, thanks to a series of twists and turns in the plot. They are certainly changes of direction that surprise us, leave us speechless and take us some time to process everything.
A_D21_0040.RAF One thing is certain: we need time to process what we see as spectators and above all we must often pay attention to even the smallest details. The central phase of the film is the decisive one, where the story changes yes register, but only with time do we understand the truth. Maybe.
The horror of the past
We are generally very perplexed by the horror element inserted in this film, almost forcibly placed in a story that does not need a trait of this type , but that only could live like the thriller it is in fact. A confusion perhaps due to the work of a feature film, after Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz have produced a series of short films, a couple who brings to the screen of the streaming platform a themed film, with a certainly good outcome and capable of arousing suspense and waiting, but with a resolution that is perhaps quite sudden and that leaves us stunned.The topic we are referring to is certainly current: among the renewed racial tensions that we have experienced recently, we also tread a little hand with the almost totally female presence in the film, where women manage to prove themselves both friends and bitter and mortal enemies. Therefore, the way of dealing with the social problem in question is perhaps from a different point of view, with some good underlying ideas.
A_D24_0060.RAF The horrors of the past always peek out in the present, they reverberate on a current situation that is anticipated by William Faulkner's quote at the opening of the film, also pronounced by the protagonist and a supporting actor during the story: “The past never dies. It has not even passed “. A fil rouge that holds the whole plot firm, perhaps in a particular way, but original and able to keep us glued to the screen until the end, racking our brains on how it will come to exhaust the question.
In conclusion
Antebellum refers to the civil war, perhaps to the period before the war, a condition that is still repeated today whenever the situation of tension and difficulty dictated by the present arises. Thus history returns to repeat itself, thus still imposes its dictates today, like an infinite cycle that runs through the heart of man, generation after generation. The interpretations of the characters in progress are decidedly good, in particular that of Monnà e, between some shots dictated by the desire to make the most significant scenes spectacular and a series of details scattered throughout the plot that know how to be punctually filmed.A_D16_0186.RAF The film coming to Prime Video will conquer anyone looking for a story that is not too complex, but that can offer some brief food for thought. The real heart of Antebellum is once again the action, the tension, the drama. Without this fiber, the thread would not stand up.
Basically, a product that yearns for perfection, but which perhaps would have found a better fulfillment in a format more similar to the miniseries, especially in order not to burn quickly its fuse on the final, moment of maximum tension that however runs out very hastily. If war is always around the corner, it is good to remember the past to face it with a different strategy and improve the future.
To view the titles on Prime Video more comfortably, we recommend purchasing a Fire TV Stick Lite with Alexa Voice Remote.
