“It’s not mine, I don’t own it, it’s not on me”, said Parker, who was joined by the cast of his film at a news conference at the festival. It’s not mine, it doesn’t belong to me.
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“Healing comes with an honest confrontation with our past”, Parker said Sunday, saying he didn’t want discussion of his own story to overshadow the movie. “The reality is there’s no one person that makes a film”, he said. It sounds cynical, yes, but Parker hasn’t made a very good case for himself.
“When I was 19, laying on the floor after being raped on the floor of a Payless shoe store at gunpoint, I decided never again”, Union said. In future forums, I’ll address it more.
The film’s cast received a standing ovation after the screening, People.com reports. “No person works alone to create something that is as special as I believe this project is”. “Personal life aside, I’m just one person”. The way we ran our set, there was no hierarchy. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article. What makes Turner, along with similar rebel leaders, such a crucial historical figure is that he proved that slaves weren’t mostly docile save for a few rogue agents, but instead primed for insurrection if only given the right push. “Most people don’t know the Nat Turner story, and I think it’s an important story to learn about”. Union had penned a potently worded op-ed in The Times earlier this month in which, while frankly describing her rape as a teenager, she also questioned Parker’s actions in 1999.
“I thought it was more important to be the symbol that people can recognize to put the face to voicelessness and powerlessness that sexual assault leaves us with”, Union said of her silent role. “But my personal discomfort is nothing compared to being a voice for people who are completely voiceless and powerless”. “I think we are all creating acknowledgment that we are real, that we exist, that we live among you, that we are your mothers or brothers or sisters or lovers”. She continued: “That movement is inclusive”. “I decided I was going to use my celebrity, my platform, to talk about the horrors of sexual violence”. “You forget you’re sitting in a movie theater”. A lot of heated conversation is the only way to have evolution.
Actress Penelope Ann Miller, who plays Elizabeth Turner, a slaveowner’s wife who helps teach Nat to read as a child, urged people to separate the art from the artist and focus on the undertold story of Nat Turner’s rebellion. More recently, details have resurfaced from a 2001 trial where Parker, then a university student, was accused of rape along with a friend.
“Sometimes a grip or gaffer had the best idea and that’s what we went with”, he said. “We’ve all been held back and scarred – we are oozing pus from the wounds we have not addressed”.
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The two-hour drama is led by Parker’s powerful portrayal as Turner, a man of God who feels he is called to lead fellow slaves to justice and freedom. “I want to be able to show this film to an Aboriginal community in Australia on mute – and them for them to be able to say in their language amongst themselves: I get this”. “Part of me feels I threw Nate under the bus, and part of me feels like I’m a rape apologist”.
