‘Sinners‘, the film written and directed by Ryan Coogler will be interpreted in different ways by different categories of viewers. It is a horror film with and about vampires. It is a period film set in the American South in 1932, a year of the Great Depression. It is a political film about racial discrimination, the history and suffering of the African-American community. It is a drama with spiritual overtones about the moral corruption of money and the saving power of each person. For me, ‘Sinners‘ is first and foremost a film about music, about the blues and its roots in history and suffering. It is a film with music, with a lot of exceptional music (two CDs were released on the day of the film’s release) composed in part by Ludwig Göransson with the rest extracted from the treasury of American music. The quality and intensity of the music elevate this film in my eyes, even if I was less impressed by many other aspects of this production.
The story takes place in the Mississippi River Delta in 1932, in the southern United States hit by the economic recession to which is added the racial discrimination that sometimes takes the violent forms of the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Theoretically we are still in the Prohibition period, but alcohol seems to be available in abundance. Brothers Smoke and Stark return from Chicago where they made good money, probably as associates in the world of gangsters and drug dealers. Their families, friends and childhood sweethearts seem frozen in time and in their poverty, while the brothers drive a luxury car and pay with stacks of dollars. The two buy from a white farmer a barn, which during a cinematic day they will transform into a dance hall with bar where alcohol is served and blues music is played. Among those recruited to help them is the young Sammie, son of a Protestant minister and exceptional bluesman. The desire to recover lost time and perhaps the innocence of youth runs into multiple obstacles – from racism to the appearance of unusual phenomena. The descendants of the first Indian inhabitants of the region have become vampires and decided to attack right now. At nightfall, when the party begins, the strangest events are triggered.
The film has two parts that seemed stronger to me. One of them is the evocation of the historical era and the place where the story takes place – the American South where legends melt into magic, where blues is born from pain, where rebellion and violence constantly smolder and when they break out they seem to have no limits. If it weren’t for the vampire story, ‘Sinners‘ could have been an excellent social drama, perhaps even violent à la Tarantino. It was the action part that seemed less successful to me, too long and quite confusing at times. However, fans of this genre of films may be satisfied, because from one moment on, blood flows in abundance, rivaled only by alcohol. The moral message seemed to me to be annihilated by the violence on screen. The fact that Michael B. Jordan plays the dual role of the two twin brothers doesn’t really help in my opinion. The special effects are successful, but honestly, I didn’t really distinguish the personalities of the two brothers except by the color of their hats. The quality is given by the music, the other major quality of the film. I read that the character Sammie (interpreted by Miles Caton) was inspired by the biography of the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who was said to have made a pact with the devil in exchange of his talent as a musician. I confirm that the music in ‘Sinners‘ sounds magical. This is one of those cases in which the musical soundtrack has a chance to remain in the audiences’ memory for a longer time than the film.