After watching Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ I left the cinema feeling as if I had seen ‘The Godfather’ in 1972 or ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ in 1978. I am convinced that what I saw would be viewed as a landmark achievement of our generation. It’s a film that left me with so many thoughts that I requested to my friends that I watched it with to not even speak about it as I needed time to just consider it. It’s rare to see pieces of black cinema achieve such widespread acclaim, especially a wholly new IP in this era of sequels and remakes. 

Yet here we have a movie with a mainly black cast, directed and written by a black man shattering not just the expectations but records previously only thought possible to be held by white directors. ‘Sinners’ is a Blues-inspired vampire epic starring Miles Catton and Michael B Jordan, that uses the first hour of its runtime to trap you in the setting and time period of its characters, and builds on themes of white supremacy and black people operating in spaces often governed through white dominance.

Ryan Coogler could’ve easily opted to go for creating a simple white oppression movie that followed these themes in a very by-the-numbers kind of way, but instead chose to embed them deeply within the subtext. For instance, throughout the film we see various black people working on plantations and although it isn’t a central point of the narrative in the back of the audience’s mind you know that these people are under the thumb of white supremacy. This is contrasted by the central characters Smoke and Stack, who appear in nice suits and ride around in nice cars almost symbolizing their freedom – or atleast freedom as far as they view it. ‘Sinners’ is unabashedly a movie that isn’t in support of white control of economic and social systems with the few white people we see in this movie playing antagonistic roles either as literal vampires or members of the KKK and scenes, with their absence only serving to make you appreciate the moments of reprieve and joy that the main cast experience.

I found myself in love with how music was integrated in this movie as a central theme. I appreciated the almost folktale feel of the film, clearly drawing inspiration from songs and legends such as ‘The Devil Came Down to Georgia’ and the story of Robert Johnson, the man who sold his soul to the devil to acquire skill with a guitar, becoming the first rock star. Coogler stated in an interview with ‘Democracy Now!’ how his uncle’s enjoyment of the ‘Delta Blues’ had influenced the movie and how he’d listen to The Blues and feel as if he was “conjuring his uncle’s spirit”. ‘Sinners’ finds itself largely steered by the magical properties of music, and the theme of passion and dedication coming before everything else including life, death and even your soul, being prevalent. This film is steeped in atmosphere that uses its early 1900s setting to create something that feels timeless, but showcases the unfortunate reality of life for black people around this time period.

We see the theme of black ownership and almost the myth of black people being of equal standing with white people at least economically, is readily apparent throughout this film. The white characters almost saw it as an insult that characters such as Smoke and Stack could view themselves as their equals. This mirrors the reality for many black people around the world as it seems as if there is a cap as to the heights black people can attain operating within the global economy, or as the movie depicts in the American South. It stands as a counterpoint to beliefs of buying freedom back and the black capitalistic views held by figures such as Marcus Garvey and more closely aligns itself with the views of Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who believed that the words ‘Black’ and ‘Capitalism’ functioned as oxymorons, that black people should make their own way economically and that a capitalistic system is founded on ideas of white supremacy, runs antithetical to black prosperity.

‘Sinners’ might hold a largely bleak outlook towards black success and ownership but in this case life may have transcended art as the director Ryan Coogler has an ownership deal where he owns exclusive rights to the movie for 25 years after its release which is falls inline with the movie’s themes and with the widespread news of this deal, hopefully it would lead to more and more filmmakers owning their intellectual properties. ‘Sinners’ is truly a marvel of cinema and will certainly change the film landscape for the better.