EMPEROR

US, 2020, 98 minutes, Colour.

Dayo Okeniyi, James Cromwell, Kat Graham, Keann Johnson, M.C.Gainey, Bruce Dern, James LeGros, Mykelti Williamson, Harry Lennix, Naturi Norton, Ben Robson, Paul Scheer, Brad Carter, Trayce Malachy.

Directed by Mark Amin.

Emperor is the story of the South Carolina sleeve, Shields Green. The origin of his story is in articles by the black abolitionist, Frederick Douglass. Some license has been taken with the actual Emperor, name given to her baby by his mother because of their royal ancestry and this becoming his name, the real Emperor being much younger, the reality of his being in the attack on the Harper’s Crossing Arsenal, but not about his being hanged. The device is used here of the son telling the story, writing it down and, in 1890, taking it to a publisher in New York City. (There is ample information about Shields Green in Wikipedia articles.)

The story opens with John Brown, the intense abolitionist, with his sons and forces, attacking the Arsenal at Harper’s Crossing. Shields Green is part of the attack. Then the narrative goes into flashback, and the episode with the mother naming her baby son, Emperor.

In the action in 1859, a plantation in South Carolina, and a gambling plantation owner who loses the plantation at cards, the new owner coming in, imposing bully and sadistic bosses. Emperor had been part of the management of the plantation but is now demoted, blamed for inadequate seed buying because of the incompetence of the arithmetic of the supervisor, Emperor being strung up and branded. And, his young son, Tommy, an eager reader, is discovered by the overseer and whipped.

This attack on his son is the crisis point for Emperor, confronting the men, shooting, and escape, his wife being shot. The film shows the detail of an escaping slave, in the woods, hiding under water, taken in by a seemingly kindly black worker but betrayed, tangling with very young and inexperienced bank robber, and a bounty hunter continually pursuing him.

The film also highlights the steps on the Underground Railway, and a kindly man played by Bruce Dern (white-haired, looking old, in his early 80s at the time of filming).

And then the return to the attack at Harper’s Crossing, Robert E Lee taking the Fort, John Brown taken (and, as we know from the patriotic North song, his body lies mouldering in the grave but his soul goes marching on).

The climax of the film is the bounty hunter pursuing Emperor, a confrontation in a church, and a spectacular explosion in the church steeple and Emperor leaping to safety.

A comparatively brief film, some action, some discussion of civil rights issues, especially with Frederick Douglass. And the black perspective on pre-Civil War slavery and abolition.

1. Race issues in the American South? Slavery, plantations, landowners, workers? Injustice? Revolt? Preview to the Civil War?
2. South Carolina, the plantation, the cotton fields, the mansion, the slaves’ accommodation? The transition to the countryside of the Carolinas, moving north? Woods, rivers? The stations along the Underground Railway? Harper’s Crossing, the Arsenal? The musical score?
3. The opening, the attack at Harper’s Crossing, the leadership of John Brown, Shields Green and his presence, the attack, the pause in the action, the flashbacks?
4. The baby and its mother, the tenderness of the mother, the ancestry, kings, calling her son Emperor? His name throughout the story?
5. The origins of the story, as told by Frederick Douglass? The device of the film, Emperor’s son telling the story, 1890, going to the publishers? (And the fact that Emperor Green was taken after Harper’s Crossing, hanging, a young age?)
6. Life in the plantation, Emperor and his wife, his son, the boy taking the books and reading, Emperor and his advice and management? The owner, reprimands from his wife, the gambling, borrowing the money, losing the plantation, driving away, the new owner, the imposition of the bosses, the speeches? Racist and religious supremacy stances?
7. Emperor, being demoted, to work in the fields? The boss, his mistake with arithmetic, not enough seed, Emperor being blamed, strung upside down, the scar on his back? The support of his wife?
8. The boy, caught by the overseer, his reading, the reaction of the boss, the whipping? Emperor’s reaction, confronting the bosses, shooting? Having to escape, with his wife, her being shot, death?
9. Emperor and his escape, running, the woods, going underwater, continually moving north, the posters and the reward? The Bounty Hunter, seeing him in action killing the three brothers, the plantation owner commissioning him, getting an assistant, interrogations of the black man on the gallows to get the information about the underground Railway?
10. Emperor, being taken in by the kindly worker, the bath, fed, Delores and her reaction, sympathy, the worker and his pulling the gun, Emperor with the pigs, Delores freeing and shooting? His escape?
11. Rufus Kelly, young age, robbing the bank, wanting a reputation, Emperor and the wagon, the food, the pursuit, the escape, being shot at? The collapse of the wagon, the explosion, warding off the bounty hunter? Tending Rufus Kelly’s wounds, his death?
12. The encounter with Levi, the old man, sympathetic, listening to the story, about Emperor’s son, the money? The attack from the bounty hunter?
13. Emperor, finding the group, John Brown and his sons, Frederick Douglass, the offer of freedom, Emperor referring to fight, admiration for John Brown?
14. The film returning to the siege, John Brown and the forces taking Harper’s Crossing, the militia moving against them, the military, the volunteers, the Bounty Hunter pursuing? The attack on the fort, deaths, John Brown being taken, Emperor escaping?
15. Emperor, going to the church, being received kindly by the Reverend? The bounty hunter, coming to the church, inside, Emperor, going into the tower, the shooting, going up the stairs, hurling the bell at the bounty hunter, the explosives, his dive into the water?
16. The imagined ending, the story by the son, Levi arriving at the plantation and saving the son, Ambrose seeing his son again? The epilogue and the son going to the publisher?
17. An African-American perspective on slavery, the plantations, the preview to the Civil War?