Sinners Review - "The Price of Freedom"

Ironically, the underlying theme, or should I say the unmistakable idea that Coogler so masterfully introduces in Sinners, is something quoted by Malcolm X. “The price of freedom is death.” The only way to be truly free is to die.

What is your price? Everyone has a price, correct? Anyone can be persuaded or enticed to do something they would not do for the right amount. Or maybe it is something that is so craved or sought that people would do anything for it. Not almost anything, but anything. Perhaps sell your soul to the devil for fame like Eugene Martone in Crossroads (1986) or Kevin Lomax in The Devil’s Advocate (1997). In Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Smoke, Stack, and Preacher Boy Sammie’s price was not quite that ominous but threatening enough as they, along with a group of Mississippi locals, faced a terrifying night paying the ultimate sacrifice.

Sinner stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown in Mississippi for a fresh start in a new venture, opening a Juke Joint. But it is not your run-of-the-mill, ordinary juke joint. This singing house of dancing and drinking and, as they stated, “sweat until you stink” will be one of a kind in Clarksdale. They buy an old mill house from an unscrupulous character with questionable cash that they brought back from Chicago. Filled with alcohol acquired from an old Mob boss, they acquire talent, starting with their cousin inspiring blues entertainer Preacher Boy Sammie, portrayed by Hollywood’s most promising young talent, Miles Caton.

Similar to 1996 Robert Rodriguez’s film, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sinners is a tale of two movies, or shall I say two acts. The first act deals with the lives of the three main characters, Sammie, Stack, and Smoke. Smoke and Stack’s cousin, Preacher Boy Sammie, is torn between the church pastored by his father and his “God-given” ability to play the guitar and sing the blues. He is a once-in-a-generation talent, but his father tells him that he must choose between the church and the evil induced by his guitar playing and singing and that one-day evil will come to stake its claim. Sammie wants to go out on his own, free from the life of picking cotton and ministering in the church. Admiring his cousins from an early age, he dreams of life much grander than the dirt roads of Clarksdale, Mississippi. But Smoke and Stack quickly remind him that Chicago is the same as Mississippi, with taller buildings.

They all dream of being free. Smoke and Stack’s freedom involves doing things on their terms, led by money and power. Sammie’s freedom is to break away from Mississippi to much greener pastures. But like his father warned him, everything comes with a price that he would have to pay but not necessarily afford.

Like that of the Titty Twister in From Dusk Till Dawn, deep in the Mexican desert, Smoke and Stack’s juke joint grand opening are in the deep woods of Mississippi and sets up the sudden but anticipated plot turn to Act 2. The twins, along with Sammie and the cast of characters that make up the singers, musicians, and dancers who are all sinners, must survive a night of mayhem and devastation.

Realization of atonement comes quickly as they are confronted by Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and his coven, who are drawn to the singing, music, and stomping from the back woods juke house. They approach Smoke and Stack with the evil kindness to be invited in, singing with the clarity and sincerity of angels but lacking the rhythm and blues needed to entertain the masses in a juke joint, and are denied entry. Singing and dancing an Irish jig around the campfire, they wait patiently for their invitation and offer the sinner the ultimate price for freedom.

Ironically, the underlying theme, or should I say the unmistakable idea that Coogler so masterfully introduces in Sinners, is something quoted by Malcolm X. “The price of freedom is death.” The only way to be truly free is to die. As the head vampire Remmick stated, you become one of us once you die. Truly free from the Jim Crow South of segregation, lawlessness, and the brutal mistreatment of those who do not look like them. In this, they will live forever with the unity of being a creature of the night, not the seclusion caused by the color of their skin. Although I am not a fan of what I call the “John Q” formula that shows the audience at the beginning of the movie the result of the movie's climax, and we watch how it came to fruition. This is a do-not-miss gem by Ryan Coogler. It is his best one yet.