Select film audiences have complained about slave narratives that feature extreme violence. Some critics have stated that the level of bloodshed and assault is unnecessary, while others argue that these movies are just dramatic reflections of history's unpleasant realities. There is another slave film on the horizon with Keke Palmer at the helm, but the actress made it clear that this drama wasn't "trauma porn."
Alice opens in theaters on March 18 and chronicles the story of a Black woman enslaved on a plantation in Georgia. However, when she escapes to freedom, she learns that it is the 1970s and Black people are free. This seems like a far-fetched story, but in real life, back in the 1960s, there were several enslaved Black people who had no idea that slavery had been declared illegal 100 years prior.
"I felt like it spoke to history in the Black slave narrative in a way that was not so victimizing," the actress told PEOPLE. "There's only one angle that we usually get the slave narrative from, and it's usually from an oppressor standpoint. It does not empower the youth and it does not come with a sense of pride that I feel like I've always felt growing up when my parents talk to me about our history."
"It's not trauma porn," she added. "It's like, 'This happened. Let's show you how our people found hope.' If a character like Alice was able to keep going and she actually endured slavery, then what do you think that you could do? That, to me, is very powerful and important for my generation to see because we are at that breaking point in our own way."
Watch the trailer for Alice below.
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