Something to Watch: Antebellum

“Antebellum” was originally supposed to hit theaters on April 24, 2020, but the pandemic had other ideas. After initially pushing the release date into summer, the production company has now made it available for rent on various streaming services.

The movie’s trailer lays the groundwork for a mystery. A little Black girl of six or seven jumps into bed with her mother and father. A blond girl of about the same age skips through a meadow toward a large house that appears to predate the Civil War. A deep, ominous voice with a Southern twang says, “We are nowhere. We are everywhere.”

Clips of Janelle Monae walking around in glamorous clothes and celebrating with friends are interspersed with words across the screen: “They have been watching you”; “They have been waiting for you”; “If they choose you”; “Nothing can save you.”

Then Monae’s character Veronica Henley reappears on the screen. Gone are her makeup and beautiful clothes. She stands in the middle of a cotton field with a rag tied around her head, a sack over her shoulders, shock and disbelief on her face.

She seems to have been taken back in time. But how? And who are the “they” and “we” spoken of earlier?

This movie was at times difficult to watch, but I found that I couldn’t look away.