Sinners - "We Was Never Gonna Be Free. Until This."

This is my favorite film of the year, and I’ve seen it five times now, but I’ve avoided writing about it. Sinners is everything I love about movies because it can be enjoyed at surface level as a period horror film, or you can consider the imagery and/or metaphors on a plethora of subjects like racism, cultural appropriation, true freedom, etc. There’s too much to say about this movie, so it made more sense for me to just stay quiet and enjoy it. But I’ve written a full article about the rest of my top five (coming later this week), so I can’t have my favorite be the only one I didn’t write about. And rather than try to focus on one or all subjects that occurred to me throughout watching it, I decided to address a couple complaints I’ve come across about the movie. SPOILERS ahead.

I try not to read a lot of criticism about films I might write about at some point, but I’ve listened to a few podcast episodes about Sinners, and I’ve skimmed plenty of Letterboxd entries, and two quasi-complaints stood out: this didn’t need to be a vampire movie, and the killing of the Klansmen at the end was unnecessary. Most people admit these elements were enjoyable, but they found the film compelling without them, insinuating that Coogler included them simply to add some entertainment value and wish fulfillment. Yes, the vampire stuff is entertaining, and watching Smoke kill an entire faction of Klan members is absolutely gratifying, there’s more to it than that.

First, the vampire element. I agree that this is still a great movie without vampires. Just watching the twins put everything together, the characters sharing stories and music, the one day of true freedom, etc. That’s all great, but without the vampires it becomes too simple and familiar. If there are no vampires, then Hogwood (what a great piece of shit from the South name) is the only threat. There would still be the battle at the end, but simply dealing with overt racism is too common. 

By making the primary antagonists vampires, this becomes about more than open racism. A key moment in this film is when Lisa is asked to get Grace. She leaves their store on the black side of town to get Grace on the white side of town. As she enters the white side, you can hear some background chatter:

“...do nothing but shoot each other up.”

“Glory be, I have no animosity towards the colored folk, but if they…”

“Used to be that they had their side of town, and we had ours.”

No one is out there yelling slurs or making threats. The racism under the surface is just there, and it always will be. And there’s no escaping it, as the twins describe Chicago as “Mississippi with tall buildings instead of plantations.” 

But once Stack is turned, he sees a way: 

“We was never gonna be free. We’ve been running around everywhere looking for freedom. You know damn well you was never gonna find it. Until this. This is the way. Together. Forever.” 

It’s possibly the most compelling argument to become a vampire in all of vampire cinema, and Smoke even starts to go before the rest of them pull him back inside. Becoming a monster might be evil, but it would free them from the racism of the world. 

As compelling as Stack’s argument is, it’s a lie. These are not truly his words; they’re at least partly Remmick’s. Remmick isn’t interested in simply gaining numbers; he really does just want Sammie for his music. There can be a kind of freedom giving in to Remmick, but your identity becomes lost. The larger metaphor is one of assimilation, and how white culture co-opting black culture (largely through music) at worst destroys their cultural identity, and at best changes it. 

By killing Remmick, Smoke frees Stack from being a part of the hive mind while allowing him to remain a vampire and gain a version of true freedom, as well. Yes, becoming a monster dependent on blood, and never being able to see daylight again isn’t exactly free. It’s more like trading one type of suppression for another. It’s not a happy ending, and that’s the point. But just killing Remmick and leaving Stack and Mary wasn’t enough to guarantee their safety.

When Smoke spares Stack, Stack and Mary have to hide somewhere with dawn only minutes away. The only place they could have hidden is the juke. Because of this, the Klan attack in the morning serves two purposes for Smoke: he can protect his brother one last time, and Smoke can gain his own freedom through death. 

If Smoke just runs off or isn’t successful, then the Klan members would inevitably search the juke and find Stack and Mary. Sure, Stack and Mary might have been able to protect themselves, I think they needed Smoke’s help because there were so many of them. 

And Smoke was done with this world. His child and wife are dead, and his brother is undead. Going with his brother would mean potential immortality but also damnation, meaning he would never see his daughter or Annie ever again. Taking off the mojo bag and accepting death was the only path to freedom for Smoke. Once again, not a happy ending exactly, but better than any alternative, and better than Stack and Mary’s, no matter how badass they looked in 1992.

Sinners is a great movie because of vampires and the final action sequence, not despite it. It’s just like the box office bullshit with this movie. For whatever reason, some outlets questioned the film’s profitability after its opening weekend, wondering if it could be profitable even though it seemed like an obvious success. Why? Why did anyone feel the need to break this film’s total budget down in relation to its box office after just one weekend, and a good one at that? Why do people feel the need to say they love this movie, but the vampire and Klan stuff wasn’t really needed? I’m not going to call any of this racist, but it’s hard not to at least consider the possibility when the film in question is primarily about the black experience and search for freedom. 

It’s only when the movie is over that any of this stuff comes to mind or shows up on movie sites and apps. Sinners provides what its characters are striving for: freedom. I think it’s why I’ve returned to it so many times already. Sure, I can get an article out of analyzing any number of themes within the film, but what makes the film special, to me, is how entertaining it is, and how much it makes me care about the characters. Movies have always been about escapism, and Sinners is a perfect example why. To escape the real world, even for a couple hours, can be true freedom.

Random Thoughts

I know that another common complaint is that the music throughout history scene didn’t work for some people, but if that scene “doesn’t work” for you, I don’t know what to say to change that. 

When it flashes back to Annie explaining that the vampires don’t die just because the original dies, there is a shot of Mary running into the night that almost looks like it must’ve been after Smoke spared Stack. But that shot looks like a continuation of her running out of the juke after she turned Stack, especially since it’s her alone. I still think the juke is where they hid until the next night.

I can give one nitpick: I don’t like how Remmick says, “Sammy!” Once would have been okay, but he does it at least twice, and I’m just not a fan of it.