Lee Daniels new Netflix thriller The Deliverance is the talk of these internet streets this weekend!
Source: Courtesy / Netflix
While the memes and tweets have been entertaining, there is a much more serious side to the film that also deserves to be highlighted.
Inspired by a true story, the film stars Andra Day as Ebony Jackson, a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons when she moves her family into a new home (their third in a year) for a fresh start. But when strange occurrences inside the home raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services and threaten to tear the family apart, Ebony soon finds herself locked in a battle for her life and the souls of her children.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays the concerned Apostle Bernice James who comes to Ebony’s aid in attempt to free her and her family from the clutches of demonic forces. It turns out Ellis-Taylor prepared for the role from an actual apostle who performs similar deliverances in real life.
“I worked with an Apostle, his name is Apostle Louis and he was extraordinary,” Ellis-Taylor told BOSSIP. “He was and he is extraordinary. And he worked with me and worked with me. I was just like ‘Dude I ain’t gonna get it.’ He just didn’t accept no for an answer. He spoke to me, spoke through me. He was wonderful. He was fantastic. He really prepared me, did his best to prepare me for that moment of rebuking. He was fantastic. That’s what he does, he does those deliverances.”
Before attempting the film’s ‘deliverance,’ Apostle James cautions Ebony that she must believe every word she speaks and use conviction when addressing the evil possessing her home.
“I think first before you can be convicted, you have to genuinely care,” Ellis-Taylor told BOSSIP. “When I am in these stories things blur for me, in a good way. I lose sight of that I’m actually just pretending to do something and I feel like I am here to save this woman. I look across the table and I’m looking at Andra, who is I think one of the most honest actors I’ve ever worked with, and it’s easy, it’s easy to do that. It’s easy to be convicted and feel convicted because I naturally care for her and what she’s going through.”‘
One of the things that resonated most to us about the film was the way it demonstrated how Black women are not believed and supported in the way that they deserve to be.
“It’s relevant isn’t it?” Ellis-Taylor said. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot you know, and Ms. Harris and Kamala, the timing, it feels a little, I feel like it’s an alignment here a little bit. Hearing her say, ‘Why don’t you believe me? Why am I not worth your belief?’ You’re believing me but also believing in me. I just think it’s a good story to be telling at the moment.”
Source: MATT MILLER / Netflix
Kamala Harris isn’t the only woman in the public eye who The Deliverance messaging brings to mind. During the deliverance in the film, Ebony uses the very same rebuke of satan that were the last words of Sonya Massey, the Illinois woman recently fatally shot by a deputy.
“The timing is rich right? It’s really rich,” Ellis-Taylor said. “I’ve heard some ministers trying to speak to this moment. This woman was calling on God. Calling on Jesus, in the moment that she was — I can’t even say it. It just shows what we’re contending with, what we’re up against, that even when we call upon our help, that sometimes it’s not enough, because if you’re doing it by yourself, and so often because we have a culture that doesn’t believe us and doesn’t believe in us, in these moments we’re doing it alone. And I think if I can say what I think about this film, it’s that it is about a community. This group of women who are standing in the balance, standing against and rebuking as a community. So I would think that maybe can help. This idea we rebuke as a community. Doing it alone is not enough.”
That’s definitely a concept worthy of belief.
Have you watched The Deliverance? What resonated most for you? What did you enjoy? What did you think could have been better executed? We’re definitely interested to hear what our readers thought of the film.
The Deliverance is streaming now on Netflix.
Janeé Bolden
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