Origin

NOW IN THEATERS! Never judge a book by its cover. That’s precisely what I did as I ignored Ava DuVernay’s feature film, Origin. From the trailer and advertising, it looked like it was going to be just another film about white racism in America. Cue the lecturing. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Yes, the film is about racism, but it’s a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion of the subject that ironically pulls race out of the discussion.

Origin is based on the 2020 book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays the book’s author, Isabel Wilkerson. The film follows Wilkerson’s travels around the world to research Caste. Her central thesis is that throughout human history, the greatest atrocities against mankind have some interconnected tissue that binds them all together. She hypothesizes that racism in America was not about race, but it found its roots in the Caste system, which was first codified in India.

“…the greatest atrocities against mankind have some interconnection tissue that binds them all together.”

During Wilkerson’s trip to Germany, she planned to research the similarities between American Slavery and the Holocaust. Her friend vehemently disagreed with that hypothesis because slaves were used as tools for commerce. Though harshly treated and brutalized to the point of death, it was far different from Germany’s outright genocide of an entire race of Jews. Were the two actions connected in some way?

Meanwhile, at home, the initial prompting of Wilkerson’s book begins with the murder of Trayvon Martin, which sparks a series of conversations about race with her husband, Brett (Jon Bernthal), and her mother, Ruby (Emily Yancy). Isabel’s position that American racism is just another variation of the caste system is constantly being challenged as Isabel must hire a plumber (Nick Offerman) who dons a “Make America Great Again” hat. When after Brett’s death, friends want to set her up with a black man. And her mother’s heartbreak over Trayvon’s chance to save his life if he only complied.

Origin essentially presents Wilkerson’s research through dramatizations. In Germany, DuVarney dramatizes the Third Reich’s planning session as they study American Segregation to devise the final solution. She also travels to India to interview the top Dullit scholar, Suraj Yengde, PhD. The re-enactments are there for drama purposes to highlight Wilkerson’s research and its dense. DuVarney keeps it honest. The actors play the guarded emotion of the moment without ever resorting to overacting.