Ava DuVernay’s Depiction of Caste as the ‘Origin’ of Our Discontents is Both Revealing and Wrenching
- This wasn’t just a movie. It was a testament of social hierarchies around the world. How we are made to believe that a certain section is weaker and less endowed than the other.
We inherit caste, race , color and religion from our ancestors. We are all born human and that’s our sole identity. The systemic divisiveness is an unfortunate tool in the hands of power mongers.
“Origin” is a movie that tries to find a commonality between slavery in America, the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany and the suppression of the Dalits in India.
I don’t know why I broke down while watching so many powerful scenes from the “Origin” made by one of the most influential filmmakers of our time Ava DuVernay . Particularly watching a little African American boy unable to swim with his other white teammates when they went to a public park swimming pool to celebrate their Little League win in 1951, or seeing a Dalit in India go down the sewer to clean up human feces or how Jews were completely dehumanized in concentration camps in Nazi Germany.
This wasn’t just a movie, it was a testament of social hierarchies around the world. How we are made to believe that a certain section is weaker and less endowed than the other. The entire judicial and legislative wings of countries help one section dominate and cripple the lower. This is done in the name of progress of a nation. We see books being burned or entire narratives being changed. Cross cultural mixing is deemed a threat.
“Origin” is based on an autobiographical book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize Winner.
“Origin” makes us delve into our own psyche about how we put people in compartments. How freedom slips for the one in the lowest realm of the hierarchical system and we don’t even acknowledge it — “You dehumanize one group and you dehumanize every person in that group.”
The main character playing Wilkerson in the film says, “We have inherited an old house with cracks in the foundation, let’s not look away and ignore them, let’s go down the basement and try to repair the leaks after a storm.”
Ava DuVernay’s extensive research in telling stories about systemic suppression is evident all through the film, much like her previous documentary film “13th.” In “Origin,” she again leaves us questioning the system, with a sense of hopelessness and injustice.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Wilkerson is brilliant in her portrayal. Her character has shades of doubt, strength and clarity with a relentless pursuit of knowing the truth. We barely see that in journalists these days.
I’ve had the honor of meeting one of the cast members of this movie Dr. Suraj Yengde at a literature festival in the Bay Area. Yengde is one of India’s leading scholars and public intellectuals. He was named one of the “25 Most Influential Young Indian” by GQ magazine and the “Most influential Young Dalit.” He played himself in the movie.
The rolling credits at the end said: “Caste” became a number one New York Times nonfiction best-seller around the time of the November 2020 U.S. presidential election, and spent ample time on the best-sellers list. It shows how we are manipulated to act a certain way and how issues of caste, religion and race are magnified around elections.
Namrita Yuhanna is a poet and San Francisco Bay Area-based host of the radio talk show “Off the Cuff with Namrita” on Bolly 92.3fm. Her recent book, “Bolti Tanhaiyan,” is available on Amazon. She believes everyone has a story to tell and the potential to enrich others through their actions.