Freedom’s Path (Smith, 2023)
Freedom’s Path is a relentlessly, oppressively well-intentioned movie that struggles mightily to live up to the importance of its subject matter.
William (Gerran Howell) is a Union deserter. Kitch (RJ Cyler) is a free black man who finds an injured William and helps him escape his pursuers. The scenario is set up reasonably enough. The battle scenes are shot through smoke with tight framing and silence as a sound effect, and William witnesses the execution of another deserter so that he (and we) understand the stakes.
But once William and Kitch are thrown together, the film flounders aimlessly. And with a run time of over two hours, it (like many message movies) leaves the audience wanting less.
I suppose that a story about the growth and development of William’s character could be dramatically effective, though the “White Character Learns About Racism” genre has a host of social and cultural land mines to negotiate. A big problem here is that William is at best a cipher and, at worst, an anachronism. A white soldier who believes slavery is wrong, just not worth fighting a war over, he can nevertheless assert with a straight face slavery must have “helped” Kitch some in becoming the man he is. Kitch insists that he “knows” (a very odd word) that William knows slavery is wrong and trusts him too easily as scenes require it. To cite just one example, the pair make a deal that William will teach Kitch to swim in exchange for Kitch teaching William to play the harmonica. Kitch is scared in the swimming scene, but he seems to be certain William will save him if necessary. The two joke about William’s lack of musical ability like a pair of comedians in a Civil War-era version of White Men Can’t Jump.
No critical take has gotten me more irate pushback on this blog than when I compare something to a “Christian” film, so I want to be crystal clear and say that Freedom’s Path is not a Christian film in the Kendrick/Erwin/Pureflix mold. (By which I mean produced by Christians with an eye toward a Christian niche audience). If I continue to highlight comparisons between films such as Freedom’s Path and films that are a product of the Christian film industry, I do so to try to be illustrative that many of the problems of “Christian” films are not unique to that genre.
The most obvious point of comparison is that often well-intentioned films market their good intentions rather than the product that has been produced. About a quarter of Freedom’s Path‘s press release is comprised of writer/director Brett Smith’s praise for The Forge because of its commitment to “exploring alternative models of distribution and sales.” Rock Soul Media, we are told, produces films that “aim to make a difference by shedding light on important social issues.” In other words, Freedom’s Path is important because of its subject matter.
Tacit in the film’s promotion is the claim that films such as this “aim to make a difference” by “shedding light” on these important topics. It’s worth asking — and hand on heart I am not trying to be snarky here — exactly how does anyone think this film will make a difference and what aspects of slavery or racism are having light shed on them? Are there still people who think slavery wasn’t that bad and helped make the organizers of the Underground Railroad into the resourceful people they became? Is there some Civil War descendant somewhere waiting with bated breath to hear a slave character argue that White soldiers get a free pass on accusations of racism because they enlisted in the Union Army? I just don’t understand who the target audience is here and how the filmmakers think the movie will land with them.
But…all of that is Reader-response, and if someone, somewhere learns a civic lesson or is inspired to think about issues rather than merely parroting ideological positions, that is probably enough of a justification for those less jaded than I.
