Movie Review, ‘Emanuel’ One Night Only
By Randy Pelish
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That is exactly what the congregation of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina did when on June 17th, 2015, a 21-year-old white supremacist murdered nine members of their church.
This 80 minute documentary is a remembrance of that tragic day when white America’s centuries old racism once again claimed the lives of those who loved rather than hated. It is a deeply emotional film that lays bare the naked hatred that has dominated the American way of life for far too long. This film argues that only in forgiveness lies redemption.
Director Brian Ivie in a series of poignant interviews and in newsreel footage explores the tragedy.
This film, in a very limited release, must be seen. Emanuel should be shown to students in every school across the nation. In the musical South Pacific Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote, “You’ve got to be taught to hate, to hate. You have to be carefully taught…” And if this film can reduce that lesson then let it be shown everywhere.
Emanuel will be shown at 7 PM on Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at the Century Riverside 12 and Century Summit Sierra theaters only.
