I wish more filmmakers were as bold as Ava DuVernay. Since Selma, DuVernay has grown more and more ambitious with her projects, tying modern policing to slavery, and completely reclaiming the story of the Exonerated 5. For Origin, her latest, she’s now fusing writer biopics into the plight of disenfranchised groups across the history of the planet. At this rate, Ava is going to completely rewrite the Bible from a new perspective, continuing her amazing mission of contextualizing history.
After a horrifying dramatization of Trayvon Martin’s (Myles Frost) murder, DuVernay’s story shifts to Origin’s protagonist, journalist Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis). Currently, Wilkerson isn’t really writing a lot, more concerned with getting her mom (Emily Yancy) into a retirement home. But when opportunity presents itself for her to frame Trayvon Martin’s murder for the world, Wilkerson finds her spark again, bouncing ideas off her husband Brett (Jon Bernthal) and her cousin Marion (Niecy Nash-Betts) and coupling those conversations with academic research, to best explain how Trayvon Martin is a byproduct of hundreds if not thousands of years of human history. In other words, Wilkerson’s great novel: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
If this were a standard biopic, we’d just see Isabel jumping from country to country, immersing herself to learn about a new culture she wanted to write about, and then move on when the book’s big sections were finished. But not in Origin. Ava Duvernay instead makes Origin about the process of writing itself, and how ideas, inspiration, and drive can come at any moment in time…the topic just happens to be history of cultural inequality. Instead, Isabel’s life intersects with her writing: she has to deal with all sorts of family drama, which then recalls some faint memories about time with her loved ones, or a riveting historical tale she’s read about, which lead to answers to various pillars holding up the world’s caste system. The process evolves as Isabel travels, incorporating new figures into her discussions who inspire new thoughts and chapters to consider. Sometimes life is more important to Isabel, sometimes work, but the two are intertwined, and help feed the other in the talented writer’s creative process as she crafts one of the great works of the 21st Century.
Origin falls apart if Aunjanue Ellis wasn’t available. The gifted performer sinks her teeth into this juicy role. At the outset, Isabel Wilkerson is a great writer but a meek person in real life, ready to listen first then engage, but content she knows what she’s talking about. But Ellis makes it clear after she hears that 911 call on Trayvon, that Isabel’s creatively moved by this terrible tragedy and focused on completing this new novel that can explain to a common person why Martin’s death means so much. She’s also a bit at war with herself, excited and engaged to write but still duty bound to the people around here that are physically and emotionally hurt. Ably supporting Ellis are Jon Bernthal and Niecy Nash, playing Isabel’s confidants and sounding boards as she goes further down the novel rabbit hole. DuVernay also convinces academics like Suraj Yengde to explain their important perspectives when it comes to building a caste system, guaranteeing a factual stamp of approval for DuVernay’s own little writing/directing project.
Much like Ava DuVernay’s other work, you’re going to leave Origin with at least something to think about. Here’s hoping that this movie inspires people to just talk about what they just saw, and ignites the type of spark Isabel found in herself in our fellow man, as we try to reach some sort of common understanding about humanity and its ability to disenfranchise other cultures in various ways. I’ll start: check out the White Tiger for more information about what type of prison India’s caste system can be.