Streaming services continue to show they're more than capable of offering award-winning films, and this week, Amazon Studios has a powerful movie to boast of. It's called "Emergency," and I'm not exaggerating when I say it contains one of the greatest performances I've seen in my life.
A few weeks ago, I reviewed "All the Old Knives" from Amazon and was impressed. In 2021, I reviewed "The Tender Bar" from Amazon and was greatly moved. This week, after watching "Emergency," I'm left stunned and reflective.
Helmed by Director Carey Williams and written by K.D. Davila, "Emergency" is a thriller disguised as a college comedy that contains poignant themes of race. And I offer two disclaimers now. First, I am a white woman, and there are obviously limits to what I can relay about the themes of race in this film. Second, "Emergency" should come with trigger warnings, particularly for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) individuals who have had traumatic experiences with law enforcement.
"Emergency" follows the story of two Black college students planning to hit up a legendary series of parties at the start of spring break, all in one night, setting a record for doing so. There's chemistry student Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) who just got accepted into Princeton University and worries about whether the bacteria he's growing for his thesis was properly refrigerated when he left the lab. Then there's Sean (RJ Cyler), a student who has all the connections required to get passes to every party and is determined to have a wild night with his best buddy.
RACE IN THE FILM
The film immediately sets a tone for how important race will be when Kunle and Sean find themselves in a class on taboos, and the professor, a white British woman, has chosen this lesson to discuss the N-word and why it's still so powerful as a slur in 2022. I listened to her actually say the word multiple times, cringing harder than I thought possible, before she put Kunle and Sean on the spot to discuss how provocative the term is.
If I was cringing this much, I can't even imagine how hard or frustrating it is for Black college students across the country to hear "discussions" of this word in academic settings every semester. And that's not even taking into account how many hear it said by white people in everyday life.
But this scene sets the tone for "Emergency" and how everything from language and family life to police intersect with the theme of race.
Sean's and Kunle's night of party prep comes to a grinding halt when they discover an unconscious white girl passed out in their home. Their roommate, Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), doesn't know who she is or how she got there. But when she doesn't respond and only wakes up to get sick, the trio know they've got a medical problem on their hands involving alcohol, drugs, or both.
Kunle is quick to reach for his phone and call 911, but Sean stops him and warns him to consider the situation. Three BIPOC individuals with a passed out white girl? Sean's convinced police will show up, and the three of them will be shot. He later reveals his cousin was shot by police. And it should immediately dawn on lighter-skinned folks, like me, how every potential interaction with law enforcement becomes a complex equation for minorities, all centered around survival.
Suddenly, this is no longer a college comedy film. It enters serious territory with life and death stakes. I found myself so stressed throughout this movie as Carlos, Sean, and Kunle brainstorm how they can get this young girl medical attention without putting themselves under suspicion of law enforcement. They try to call some white and Asian friends, hoping one of them might be able to call 911 for this girl, but all of their friends are already gone for spring break.
Kunle eventually convinces Carlos and Sean they need to drive this girl to the hospital and say they found her. But Sean is quick to point out they all need to be dressed in "substitute teacher" outfits. No hats. No hoodies. Nothing that could cause suspicion and get them stopped.
The trip to the hospital runs into obstacle after obstacle as these college students learn the unconscious girl is actually a high school student and a minor, making the situation even worse in the eyes of the law.
I won't spoil the rest of the movie, but it covers so much ground in an hour and 45 minutes, from Kunle and Sean fighting in the woods over what true Blackness means and police eventually catching up with our main characters in the movie's climax.
It's a tense film with so many heartfelt moments and one grand laugh the trailer gave away.
THE END
The most jaw-dropping moment in "Emergency" comes at the end from Kunle, as he has an emotional breakdown over his interaction with police, having a gun pointed in his face while he performed CPR and being slammed to the ground, believing he would be killed while screaming, "I was just trying to help. I didn't do anything wrong."
Watkins gives a powerhouse performance sobbing to Sean over his fear of believing he would be killed and repeating that he never wants to feel that way again. I was rendered speechless by this scene, and I'm not overhyping Watkins' performance when I say it's some of the best acting I've ever seen. Give Watkins an Oscar.
Philip Martin has told me repeatedly the role of a film critic isn't to say whether a movie is good or bad. It's to convey the art the critic witnessed in all its aspects, positive and negative. The real role of a film critic is to watch a movie and then write something interesting about it, he's said multiple times.
The most interesting thing I can say about "Emergency" is it's important, it's relevant, and there's too much hard truth packed into its 105-minute runtime to walk away from without learning something about the Black experience in America.
"Emergency" is available on Amazon Prime Video today.