Origin

Imagine a film based on a dense, non-fiction book. At first sight, watching a cinematic essay like this doesn’t sound convincing. Yet, what makes Ava DuVernay’s newest biopic stand out is her virtuous sensibility, as she proves she’s quite the visionary. In Origin, she tells the story of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, written by critically acclaimed journalist, Isabel Wilkerson (superbly played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor).

Before the opening, we read it’s an artistic interpretation of Wilkerson’s journey. When it comes to other directors, this could have meant everything. Fortunately, DuVernay is a self-aware filmmaker, who cleverly focuses on the vital essence of the book’s substance and Wilkerson’s life. This is why there is a deliberate juxtaposition of two types of tragedies. We experience the personal ones, which affected Wilkerson during her research process, and the universal ones, related to caste, racism and exclusion issues. Nonetheless, DuVernay does not devalue the importance of meaning in any of these adversities, as she finds purpose in them.

Regardless of Wilkinson’s storyline, the script is also strongly inspired by the book’s content. Occasionally, Origin proposes a rather essayistic form, which corresponds with Wilkerson’s literary reportage. It tends to be descriptive: we even hear the exact paragraphs from the book, while the director visualises them. As a result, the audience follows the author’s life and learns more about Caste‘s heroes from the past, who shaped her disruptive thesis. Ultimately, DuVernay simultaneously handles four heartbreaking narratives, which emotionally correspond with each other and follow similar conclusions. Maybe because of that creative decision, Origin should have been slightly longer, so all historical throwbacks could have been fully developed. 

Those tear-jerking vistas, bolstered by some exceptional casting, are both stimulating and inspiring, propounding a brand-new interpretation of how we should perceive our world. Origin argues that we find ourselves in a non-equal system, which uses a hierarchy as a mode to control people for the profit of those being at the top of this ladder. It’s a world where racism appears to be a pretext for achieving those social echelons. Consequently, Wilkerson, through years of research pictured in the film, found some cogent proof for that. While accompanying her in Berlin and India, we just listen and learn. And, there’s beauty in it. 

“A world without caste would set everyone free,” writes Wilkerson at the end of Caste and one can tell this quote is echoed throughout the entire film. Origin is a perfect introduction to this timely book, but it’s also more than that: DuVernay has directed another arresting gem, which is groundbreaking to the highest degree.

Jan Tracz

Origin is released nationwide on 8^th March 2024.

Watch the trailer for Origin here: