Will Smith is back for a shot at his next Oscar with Emancipation

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Emancipation makes no effort to gloss over the barbaric reality of slavery: Inspired by the real-life 1863 photograph of a slave known as “Whipped Peter,” Will Smith’s new film on Apple TV+ is often difficult to watch. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and shot in black and white, the film follows Peter as he is snatched from a plantation, separated from his family, and put to work laying railway tracks. He hears that President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and plots to reach the Union Army in Baton Rouge for a shot at freedom. He escapes through the Louisiana swamps, battling an alligator and dodging a slave hunter with scent-sniffing hounds. The long-awaited movie was pushed several times due to controversy surrounding Smith’s slapgate incident at last year’s Oscars, but has been released just in time to be considered for an Oscar nomination. (Yes, Smith is still eligible for nomination even though he was banned from attending the ceremony for 10 years.)