Origin
Overview
Origin is a 2023 biographical drama film written and directed by Ava DuVernay, based on the 2020 book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. The film stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Isabel Wilkerson, a journalist who is writing a book about the history of caste systems around the world. The film follows Wilkerson as she travels to Germany, India, and the United States, researching the persecution of Jews, Dalits ("untouchables"), and Black Americans. She is grieving the death of her husband and her mother, and her research is a way of processing her grief. The film is a meditation on the nature of oppression and the common threads that connect different forms of discrimination. It was praised for its performances, its direction, and its ambitious, intellectual scope.
