| Back To School | 60 Second Screenplay |
ORIGIN TBC
On the write track…
★★★★★ OUT 8 MARCH CINEMAS
Writer/director Ava DuVernay’s (Selma) biographical drama delves into the creation of Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 nonfiction bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, in which the author reframes America’s historical and current racism through the lens of the caste systems in India and Nazi Germany. The result is a film that works as both a broad educational tool and a tender portrait of grief - although it might have been just as effective as a documentary. During her voyage of discovery, Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) experiences a series of devastating personal losses that give her mission greater meaning. Her investigations allow her to find ways to say goodbye to loved ones, as well as to antiquated syntax and race relations.
It’s an approach that doesn’t always work. Watching Wilkerson writing a book simply isn’t as arresting as the historical details she uncovers. And although the theoretical aspects of the story serve as a taster - spurring audiences to do their own post-credits research - the condensing of Wilkerson’s treatise sometimes reduces it to repetition and bluntness.
Where DuVernay really succeeds is in capturing the universal experience of loss: the regrets, the suffocating sorrow. One family unit is presented so vibrantly, Wilkerson’s mourning is felt acutely. Meanwhile, a small but shameful historical incident involving a nine-year-old cowering on a Li-lo will leave you truly raw.
THE VERDICT It might feel too simplistic for those who’ve read the book – and too scholastic for those who haven’t – but DuVernay’s drama remains a powerful conversation-starter.