The Underground Railroad: 05 - Tennessee Exodus
Amazon StudiosHaving concluded its brief interlude devoted to exploring the anatomy of evil dwelling behind Ridgeway’s eyes, the series reconvenes with Cora in the fifth episode, which is best described as a tipping point in her odyssey of despair. She is found in chains, driven together with another captured runaway slave Jasper (Calvin Leon Smith) to be returned to the plantation from which she escaped, where she is sure to meet her demise at the hands of its ruthless owner.
This predicament puts Cora’s character at a crossroads and the bulk of this chapter is devoted to exploring the ramifications of her circumstances. However, the conversation the filmmakers want to have is much richer and multi-dimensional. As a matter of fact, this is where the progression of the main narrative and its thematic sphere running beneath the epidermis of the film intertwine most readily. And it all begins with reminding the viewer of an extremely important fact about American history: that the horror of slavery, which has shaped much of the trajectory of the country’s historical development, is not its only mortal sin.
To this end, the fifth chapter in The Underground Railroad purposefully begins with haunting imagery of scorched landscapes, through which the characters are travelling. They are making their way through what is referred to as The Trail of Tears, a land formerly inhabited by the Cherokee. It is implied that the Natives have been either forcibly removed from the area or – simply put – exterminated by white colonialists, with forests, villages and plains razed to the ground. This is a powerful acknowledgement on behalf of the filmmakers that easily transcends the idea of a heightened aesthetic choice emboldening the hellish circumstance Cora is in. After all, the environment presented in this episode looks as though it was taken out of a Cormac McCarthy novel: dystopian, outlandish, and lawless. Once again, the story draws clear parallels to other historical atrocities and infers that these parts of history need to be analyzed in a similar way.
Fire purifies. However, it must be understood that in the context of what is depicted in this episode of the series, purification is synonymous with ethnic cleansing. The scorched soil is a by-product of a crime against humanity which took place in broad daylight and created ‘living space’ for a race of colonial overlords to rule over the land. At this point Cora transcends her role as a protagonist seeking freedom from oppression and becomes an allegorical avatar for her brethren, an entire race of people placed in shackles and systematically exterminated by ruthless conquerors. She faces a stark realization that her days are numbered and effectively abandons all hope, especially upon learning of what happened to Caesar after he was captured.
This is where the character of Jasper becomes an instrumental teaching tool for Cora’s journey. Initially dismissed by her as insane, Jasper presents Cora with a different idea of freedom – freedom of spirit. He understands perfectly he will never be able to remove the shackles of oppression and even if he tried, he would always be captured and chained. What he conveys to Cora is the fact that although their captors may hold their bodies hostage, their spirit is not theirs to rule over. Jasper introduces her to an utterly tragic notion that their deliverance lies in death. This is something Cora had already been made aware of when she was confronted with the cynically named Freedom Trail, an endless road adorned by hanging bodies of murdered slaves; however, Jasper’s disruptive disobedience towards Ridgeway offers a different perspective on the matter. By eventually starving himself to death, Jasper proves to Cora that freedom lies in the idea of choosing the terms of one’s own departure from this world.
In a haunting and utterly soul-crushing sequence of scenes leading to the conclusion to the episode, The Underground Railroad reaches its zenith of disheartening hopelessness, as Cora’s spirit is put to the ultimate test. But – as she is brutally reminded by Ridgeway – dying isn’t easy and her odyssey must continue. She is ultimately stripped of the last remaining shreds of humanity, her spirit shattered, surrounded by seemingly endless landscape of destruction wrought by men like Ridgeway. In what is surely the most heart-rending moment in the entire series thus far, there is nothing left for Cora to do but weep and gnash her teeth. Her own personal hell merges – perhaps irreversibly – with the literal hell of her circumstances. Thus, the allegorical poem about American history told by the filmmakers shifts into a whole new gear. It becomes a hauntingly unsettling account of a holocaust; likely irredeemable because of all the blood and tears that soaked into the soil upon which the country of United States of America was built.
Chapter 2 - South Carolina (Review)
