By Flynn Demapendan-Espana
“You keep dancing with the devil… one day he’s going to follow you home.” The only thing that is following me home after watching Sinners, is my jaw after it dropped from watching this fantastic movie.
Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, follows the story of Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, who in 1932 returned to their hometown, Mississippi Delta, after years of being in Chicago working for Al Capone. The twins plan to open a juke joint in their town to create a space for the Black Community in the area. However, after establishing the joint in a grand opening, they discover a greater evil is waiting for them.
Ryan Coogler is a genius at portraying historically accurate pieces while also adding a part of the fantasy world of vampires. This movie’s main focus is accuracy: historically, metaphorically, culturally, everything is just so right. Watching this movie made me fully focus; I was able to pick up small easter eggs, references to religion, and historic facts, and I was amazed.
Before I continue any further with my review rant, I will warn that there are spoilers ahead in no specific order. If you haven’t seen the movie, please pause and watch it. If not, keep reading. 🙂
The first thing that I will be stating about the movie are the religious themes. Starting off in the movie, you are introduced through an inverted narrative, as the ending is shown first. One of the main characters, Sammie, who is played by Miles Calton, is seen in the aftermath of the night before: covered in blood with claw marks on his face, driving to a church.
The character is known as ‘Preacher Boy’, as his father in the movie is a Pastor of the church in the town he lives in. Starting off, it is shown that religion is a big driving point in the movie and will have some revolving themes for not just Sammie, but everyone and everything.
Sammie’s storyline is heavily influenced by the church, which is representing a safe space in the Black community that existed for generations and many years. His Christian influence is also a source of conflict due to his father’s expectations as a preacher.
Sammie is a singer and performer, which is immediately shown after he goes to pick up a guitar in the first few minutes of the movie. His father portrays the blues as a distraction and connection with the Devil, while Sammie sees it on the other side of the spectrum. To add a quick fact, percussion and dance performances were outlawed in enslaved and Indigenous communities in colonial America. He views the blues and his performance as a source of spiritual connection and way to express his experiences and himself.
In the end of the movie, Sammie finds his own path, and chooses to pursue his musical talent for good. His choice is seen as a rejection of the imposed religious ideals and is an embrace of a more personal and authentic spirituality for himself. The guitar can also be seen as a symbol of a departure from the ways of the Lord and to instead pursue a higher calling and purpose through music.
Another character who has a religious AND historical driving point is the main antagonist, Remmick, played by Jack O’Connell. Being a vampire, it already has religious aspects in itself, as the origins of vampire tales are the Devil. Vampires are often portrayed as a Christian culture origin as their entire nature is Eucharist-inverters. Instead of accepting the gift of divine flesh and blood for eternity with God after death, they steal and hunt mortal flesh and blood for the eternal earthly pursuit of their own free will.
Remmick’s introduction itself is a religious aspect. When Remmick is first introduced, he is seen to be falling from the sky. This could easily tie into the symbolism of him being a fallen angel. A seemingly good person in his past life turned to evil when he became a vampire.
Another religious aspect is Remmick’s declaration of being “the way to eternal life.” He is seen as a god and a maker as he eventually turns a majority of the characters into vampires. He is a connection of an invocation of partaking in a “civilized mission” to turn people into vampires, which can possibly tie to the massive mission for Christians to spread their religion.
To include the historical aspect into Remmick’s character, Remmick is an Irish man. Around the time of the movie, in the 1840s-1900s, the Post-Famine Era attracted a massive wave of Irish Catholic immigration into the United States. For the Irish, they faced massive discrimination and prejudice due to their Catholic faith and incoming poverty due to the famine they just faced.
The reason why having an Irish vampire is so important is because the way for vampires to be able to convince and turn other people into vampires is to sympathize with them. Remmick, being an Irish man, is able to sympathize with the Africans and African-Americans in the joint because both parties faced a dealing of discrimination because of their beliefs and race.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Irish people are white, why were they faced with discrimination?” Well, that’s a wonderful question. Back then, particularly in the 19th century, Irish people were questioned about their whiteness. A main reason was due to the Irish being ‘impoverished’ immigrants because they recently left Ireland due to the famine. They were often perceived as culturally different, and were initially excluded from being considered “white”.
Remmick’s character is portrayed as having Christianity imposed upon him, heavily highlighting how the religion served as a tool of oppression and a bridge to further connect with his prey. With a connection through oppression, he was able to find a way to connect and talk to Smoke and Stack at the entrance of the joint when he was formally introduced in the movie.
To put into perspective and add context for Ireland, Ireland was dominated by Paganism before it was converted into Christianity, which was often excused by “divine justification”. So, the forced push of Christianity onto Remmick’s character is another addition of connection he could use for sympathy points.
Now, onto the metaphorical parts of the movie. This is going to be a long one. The metaphors in the movie are insane. Some of them are not explicitly said, but the implications say enough. This may seem a stretch, but the movie implies that vampirism is a form of “Christian conversion”. Stay with me, stay with me. The main idea that puts together vampirism and Chrisitianity is that one must die to live. The concept of conversion, or, in a vampire’s case, being bit, is about power and identity. Much like a vampire bite as it is to conversion, it saves a soul by killing its old self.
Vampires’ origins come from the thought of having the concept of evil having an embodiment. Evil having an embodiment can easily tie back and connect to the thought of them being converters to evil. It also connects to why vampires always ask for permission to come inside peoples homes; it is a metaphor of people allowing evil to enter into their lives willingly.
Another metaphor with the vampires is that it portrays the stealing of culture. Specifically, in the context of the movie, in the “Jim Crow” era in Mississippi. The nature of vampires biting and drinking the blood of others gives the exploitation and violence within Black communities. Their transformation from human to vampire also mirrors the loss of their individuality and forced upon new way of life.
To connect onto the previous metaphor, it can be a bridge to relate to a character, Mary, who is played by Hailee Steinfeld. Mary’s character is portrayed as a mixed-woman who passes as a white person, which can be seen as a metaphor for the complex situations of racial identity and limitations of fitting into either a Black or White society.
Although Mary obviously passes as a white person, the third of Black in her is important, which was from her mother’s dad being half-black, especially in the time of the movie. The “One-Drop Rule” is a historical classification system that states that any person with even a single known ancestor of Black African descent is considered Black. So, despite Mary’s white passing, she was still treated as a Black person and faced the same discrimination and prejudice.
Finally, moving onto the cultural aspects of the movie. Right off the bat, Black culture is the main point of this movie and everything else revolves around it. The movie is based on 1932 in Mississippi, Jim Crow Laws, facing discrimination, racial violence and the rise of art, education, and music.
The movie showcases many parts of the culture by showcasing spiritual practices like Hoodoo and Conjure, which can tie back to how Christianity has been used for control and subjugation, leading to the erasure of many aspects of the culture.
The film’s setting in the Jim Crow South heavily points out the racism and violence many Black people faced: lynching, segregation, and overall pure hatred. The vampire attacks that happen at night and target the Black characters at night also present as a metaphor for the threat of racial violence and the struggle for survival.
A big cultural aspect of the movie is the scene where Sammie performs for the first time in the juke joint. In the beginning of the movie, it is heavily foreshadowed that someone can use their expression of music to talk to ancestors and future generations, bringing to life the culture in the past and the future.
As Sammie performs the camera pans around him. As it happens, many aspects of Black culture pop up, ranging from culture in the past and the future. It showed Black performers, from an electric guitar player, to a DJ, to a street performer, to a professional dancer.
The scene as a whole and the cultures emerging from his music and voice shows a powerful message about Black influence in dance and songs. It shows how many genres of music and dance originate from Black culture and how it is spread around the world.
Now, I know I have been ranting about a majority of the movie’s themes. I’m going to talk about one more thing: the implications of the Seven Deadly Sins among the characters.
I’m going to start off with envy, which connects to Sammie. In the beginning of the movie, he starts off to be “pure”, as his nickname is “Preacher Boy”. He has the ideals and is framed by the Catholic church. Although, he spends the rest of the movie with his cousins, the twins, and he looks up to them in awe.
Sammie wants to move away from his normal life in the church and wants to live the life that the twins had: violence, freedom, and surrounded by A LOT of women. Sammie envies their lives and wants to be just like them in every way possible; he wants the freedom they have.
Next is greed, which connects Grace and Bo, played by Li Jun Li and Yao. Grace and Bo are Asian immigrants in the Delta district, and they own two stores: one in the Black side of the district and one in the white side of the district. This might be a stretch, but while everyone else is fighting over race and the discrimination that comes along with it, Grace and Bo are making money from both sides of the fight.
On to sloth, which is Cornbread, played by Omar Benson Miller. As soon as you are introduced to Cornbread in the movie, he is slacking on the job, being behind his quota from the get-go when Stack and Sammie come over to pick him up.
On top of him slacking off in his job, he had one of the laziest jobs among the other characters for the juke joint, which was being the jumper and sitting at the door. Also in the movie, he slacks off yet again when he has to leave his job to use the bathroom and forces somoene else to take his job.
Next is gluttony, which is Delta Slim, who is played by Delroy Lindo. All Delta does throughout the movie is consume alcohol and money. When Sammie and Stack came to Delta to pick him up to play at the juke joint, he was only convinced to finally play when Stack offered him alcohol and double the money he first offered.
Going on to pride, which is Stack, one of the twins played by Michael B. Jordan. Out of the two, he is the most confident twin and character by far. It is shown in many ways in the movie: the way he corrected the white seller of the juke joint that called him “boy” and his relationship with Mary.
With his connection to Mary, in an outside point of view, Mary is seen and perceived as a white woman, which at the time period can be considered to be out of Stack’s league. In a sense, having a relationship with Mary fuels Stack’s pride, as Mary’s “whiteness” and his ability to be with her makes him feel proud and “superior”.
For the next twin, it’s wrath for Smoke, which is the other twin that Michael B. Jordan plays. In the movie, it is revealed that Smoke killed his father in order to protect Stack from abuse that the two were facing. Smoke also has multiple scenes where he is seen to be shaking from the previous violent actions he has committed.
Smoke has also been a soldier in a war, which could also explain him being trigger happy. In one of the scenes he willingly shoots two people after they peek into his truck, a situation that could have been easily avoided if he confronted him without the use of guns.
Finally we have lust, which is Mary, played by Hailee Steinfield. From the get-go she was immediately attached to Stack when she was introduced in the train station. Mary yearns for Stack, as her yearning originates from the forced separation by Stack.
Throughout the scenes in the juke joint, Mary tries to make a move on Stack the whole night, wanting to be close to him and intimate. But when she finally turns into a vampire, her lusty urges finally take over and she finally “does it” with Stack in the closet next to the bar.
Finally done with my rant. It just shows how much this movie is a masterpiece and deserves to be the best film of the year. Hopefully with this review and point-outs for the movie, it convinces you to watch the movie again.
beniciapaw.com 