EMPEROR REVIEW

"He was a fugitive slave, who had made his escape from Charleston, South Carolina; a state from which a slave found it no easy matter to run away. But Shields Green was not one to shrink from hardships or dangers.

He was a man of few words, and his speech was singularly broken; but his courage and self-respect made him quite a dignified character. John Brown saw at once what "stuff" Green "was made of," and Green easily believed in Brown, and promised to go with him whenever he should be ready to move. Shields Green, one of the bravest of his soldiers..."
~ Frederick Douglass

A rebel slave uprising political action thriller, Emperor is based on the life of Shields Green, African royalty kidnapped and enslaved on a Southern plantation - who escaped and fought with John Brown at Harpers Ferry. And a longtime collaboration and labor of love with producer/filmmaker Reginald Hudlin - yet another greatest story never told in the annals of all too often buried courageous black history.

Emperor stars Dayo Okeniyi as Shields Green, Harry Lennix as Frederick Douglass, James Cromwell as John Brown, and Bruce Dern as a kind of Underground Railroad solo Greek chorus tying everything together narratively and ideologically. Likewise the bold and impressive collaboration of Iranian born writer/directer Mark Amin and Black Lightning/Sons of Anarchy co-writer Pat Charles.

Emperor, though released by chance during this Black Lives Matter moment in time, could not have been more timely and evocative. Along with immensely bracing Brechtian interludes of debate included as well - confronting essential ideological questions surrounding struggle - as expressed here by the characters Frederick Douglass, Shields Green, and John Brown. And Robert E. Lee - regarding in particular the hypocrisy enshrined in the Declaration Of Independence when it comes to who exactly is created equal.

And while the film delves into the numerous insurmountable tragic circumstances that filled Green's life, Amin's interest lies primarily elsewhere. Indeed, in focusing on the ingredients of legend - the journey and the struggle - imbued in the life of any extraordinary human being. And embellishing those heroic highlights as a future offscreen blueprint and path to hope, absolved of breathlessly captivating flourishes.

And like John Brown/Green's immortalized defeat, or Che in Bolivia, a film of courage according to Amin. Focused on earnestly paying tribute to "history filled with people who knowingly went to battle and fought causes - knowing they're risking everything including their lives."

Prairie Miller