This review contains spoilers for ‘Sinners’ (2025)
Why do oppressed peoples create the greatest art? Because they’re forced into conditions which aim to dehumanise them – and persevering through these conditions necessitates the righteous re-assertion of their humanity in its most raw and potent forms. This raw humanity transcends cultural barriers, and indeed opens portals between the past, present and future. It also generates its own cultural capital, and therefore, under an economic system in which all forms of capital must be exploited for profit, presents the artist a dilemma.
This is the dilemma that Coogler explores when he takes us to 1932 Clarksdale Mississippi, the place where the most disrespected group of people in pop culture to this day, Black Americans, created the most culturally important form of art: Delta Blues music.
He does this by giving us two options: annihilation or assimilation.
Annihilation is straightforward. It comes at the hands of the racist Ku Klux Klan, who allegedly no longer exist, but who sell you the venue for your art under false pretences and plan to massacre you in the morning.
Assimilation comes at the hands of a vampire, who seeks to extract the gift of the artist to break down barriers, to transcend time and space, and to unite people in community. The vampire sits in contrast with the Klan, considering himself to be anti-racist, a victim of colonisation himself, who sympathises with the plight of Black Americans. Centuries ago, he was likely a filè for his community, an Irish poet with the power of divination. He comes offering a vision of peace, love, and an end to the suffering and oppression the community faces in the material world. It’s an enticing proposition on the surface. Alas, the offer still entails violent death, with which your memories, emotions, and gifts becoming his, and your soul becoming stuck, unable to join the ancestors.
You must choose though. The dilemma is inescapable because of the economic conditions that the community is forced into. The magic – the art, comes from the community. But to facilitate the space for the art, the Smokestack twins had to participate in brutal organised crime in Chicago. Without outside help (capital) they cannot sustain the space and the pure joy that is has conjured, as the community within the space is impoverished under Jim Crow-era capitalism, being paid in gimmick currencies to work the plantations they were formerly enslaved on.
Knowing that the only way to keep the Juke Joint open is with white people’s money, Smoke wearily sends Mary out to solicit it. The moment they do this, it’s over. The vampires and vultures are at the door, and your gift is no longer pure.
There are so many wonderful layers to this incredible film, but this, to me, is the crux of it. In their struggle against oppression, the community produces this incredible art. At the same time, that system of oppression forces them to commodify the art, robbing it of its most powerful attributes.
It’s the time away from both the Klan and the vampires that Sammie and Stack reminisce on as the brief moment that they were truly free. That’s where we want to go. For two hours, Ryan Coogler took us there. 🐐
