Origin Review: Ava DuVernay Delivers Her Bold Vision Flawlessly

In the wake of George Floyd's murder, Isabel Wilkerson released her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. It studies the caste system and social stratification, linking the experiences of people of color in America with the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany.

Ava DuVernay brings the non-fiction book to life in a revolutionary way, getting "inside the story" the same way Wilkerson does whenever she feels called to write.

Origin debuted at the Venice Film Festival, journeying through the circuit before its limited release in early December. It will hit theaters this month, and audiences will get a chance to soak in the mastery of what makes DuVernay one of our best working filmmakers.

A quote early in Origin encapsulates DuVernay's thesis for the film: "Make the hard stuff digestible".

We find our home in Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Isabel Wilkerson, whom we meet in the frame of intellect as she delivers a speech on her first book, The Warmth of Other Suns. She's a Writer now, with a capital W. One that writes deep investigative non-fiction. She does not take assignments. That is until the tragic tapes of the Trayvon Martin murder hit her desk and seeped into her subconscious, particularly in the wake of her own personal tragedy.

Origin is making a lot of points, but not once hitting you over the head with them. The way DuVernay leans into making her film fiction and non-fiction in a way that has rarely previously been done is wildly engaging. The film deeply loves humanity and believes in hope in an entirely uncynical way despite its depictions of the worst of what humanity has to offer.

DuVernay is asking that we find commonality and act on our humanity despite social structures that want to tear the opportunity away at any given moment. Ellis-Taylor is the perfect driving force, both strong but gentle, compassionate yet critical. She is grieving, and while she may never articulate it, you can see Ellis-Taylor embody every inch of that crushing feeling as she soaks herself in her work.

Bryan Stevenson said, "In Germany, you can't go 200 meters without seeing markers, or monuments, or stones that have been placed next to the homes of Jewish families that were abducted during the Holocaust." DuVernay's film acknowledges the same thing, showing how Germany has reconciled its past with its present and transformed in a way the US has yet to do.

Stevenson also speaks about how "there are no Adolf Hitler statues in Germany", and Ellis-Taylor has a similar conversation as Wilkerson in the film, explaining that the US still allows symbols of the confederacy to not only be protected but honored across the country.

"It happened. Therefore, it can happen again" becomes a mantra throughout. DuVernay wants us to remember this, and she achieves it by depicting the past and the present and warning us of the dangers of repeated patterns. She shows how symbols of protection to one community are symbols of fear and threat to other groups.

She takes us inside the hideous truths through the stunning lens of cinematographer Matthew J. Lloyd, who frames each scene with care and respect.

DuVernay wants to "escape trauma by confronting it", extending a hand to her audience to do the same. She has achieved a singular vision that is bold and fresh in a narrative that has become frequent on both the big and small screen. It quite honestly has to be seen to be believed, and skeptics should approach it with open hearts and minds, ready to learn something about themselves and the world.

We are lucky to have DuVernay's guiding hand. Audiences should take it, walk with her, and let her unveil the truth of what is carefully hidden from us.