Emancipation, the film against slavery with Will Smith, risks the snub

It was meant to be a poignant film about a slave's escape through the Louisiana swamps, but before its release,

got an unexpected label: it was Will Smith's first film since his Oscar slap.

What worries its director, Antoine Fuqua.

Hollywood professionals were instead betting on a postponement because of the scandal, but Apple, which produces the feature film, decided to release it this weekend on American screens, despite fears of a possible boycott by the public.

Read also“I loved him”: the tribute of Brigitte Bardot and the world of cinema to Mylène Demongeot

“I am very worried about this

,” Antoine Fuqua told AFP, who hopes that the message of his film will not be swallowed up by the scent of sulfur surrounding its main actor.

, adds the director.

A star in disgrace

Before shocking the world by slapping comedian Chris Rock on the Oscars stage because of a dubious joke about his wife's hair loss, Will Smith had conquered Hollywood since the 1990s and

, recalls the filmmaker.

Read also“The Civil War is the mirror of American society today”

Emancipation

is inspired by the story of "Whipped Peter", a black slave who is remembered for the barbaric treatment inflicted on him by his masters, before he escapes from a cotton plantation during the American Civil War.

Photos of his back, completely lacerated by whippings, have gone down in history as indelible proof of the brutality of slavery.

Will Smith embodies this character escaping from the claws of cruel masters, and whose escape Antoine Fuqua imagines through the sticky swamps of Louisiana, filled with alligators, snakes and other dangers.

The director films this quest for freedom like a suspense thriller, more than a historical drama, and shows the abuse inflicted on slaves head-on.

Brutal, the scenes of violence are reminiscent of those in the multi-Oscar-winning film

.

Will is a good guy, I support him.

Antoine Fuqua, director

Will Smith's performance is undeniable, but many critics wonder if the actor's return to the screens is premature, just eight months after his slap.

Banned from the Oscars ceremony for 10 years, after having himself resigned from the Academy, the former

can in theory still be nominated and win a statuette.

The release of

in December also allows Apple to submit its film to the Oscars.

Read alsoTo tell Bruce Lee, Ang Lee enlists his own son Mason after severe training

Will Smith, who has publicly apologized,

to get carried away during the last Oscars, insists Antoine Fuqua, hoping that he is reconciled with Chris Rock far from the spotlight.

him ," added the director, pointing out that the actor

during the difficult filming of the film, in the swamps of Louisiana.

A political movie

The filmmaker insists on the urgent need to release

, at a time when memorial questions around slavery are causing multiple tensions in the United States.

, is indignant Antoine Fuqua.

Read alsoJean-Christophe Buisson: “In war as in war”

The Republican Party has strongly opposed reforms that considered changing the way slavery was taught and addressing systemic racism.

American children should not be

," Conservative Senate leader Mitch McConnell and other lawmakers said last year.

Antoine Fuqua draws a parallel between this resistance and the clichés of “Whipped Peter”, which were necessary to silence the voices which tried to minimize the horrors committed in the name of slavery at the end of the 19th century.

," he said.