Is Sinners Based on a True Story?

Ryan Coogler’s film ‘Sinners’ masterfully blends supernatural and man-made horrors that are rooted deep in the history of the American South. The film follows the Moore twins, Elijah ‘Smoke’ and Elias ‘Stack’, World War I veterans and Chicago bandits who return to Mississippi to open a juke joint. Their establishment seeks to provide sanctuary to the troubled Black community in 1932, but is threatened by not only local segregationists but something far more sinister and terrifying. With a compact storyline, powerful themes, and compelling performances from a talented cast led by Michael B. Jordan, the musical horror film serves as a celebration of Black music and culture and turns vampires into an allegory of the predators that hide in plain sight.

Sinners Has Been a Personal Experience For Ryan Coogler

While ‘Sinners’ is a work of fiction written by Ryan Coogler himself, the setting of the story, as well as many of its elements, are firmly grounded in the verifiable past and the writer-director’s personal experiences. In an interview with IndieWire, Coogler expressed that he came up with the idea of ‘Sinners’ while mourning the death of his uncle, James. Hailing from a family of sharecroppers in Mississippi, he recalled his uncle playing old Blues records and dove into the genre himself. Qualities of James can be seen in the character Slim, a talented musician who is introduced as a wise elderly guy in the film.  With his personal sense of grief intermingling with the grounded music, Coogler had a new perspective on the stories of the region he had previously heard. The music, combined with his uncle’s habit of drinking Old Taylor whiskey, is captured in essence in the juke joint of the film.

 

Most of Coogler’s extended family left Mississippi during the Jim Crow era and settled down in San Francisco. Their film honestly portrays their plight, with the people running from the evil that surfaces in the story. However, ‘Sinners’ also shows the twins making a stand to protect their establishment. Coogler explained this, saying, “To understand the Great Migration is to also understand (that) for a long time our people’s home was the South. To migrate means to leave something behind.”

Like Jordan Peele, Coogler is one of the leading directors who brought the shared Black experience alive on screen, with films such as ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Creed’ under his belt. In addition to drawing from historical perspectives of Blues music and segregation, he also drew inspiration from stories closer to home to weave the interpersonal narratives in ‘Sinners’. Coogler asked his grandmother about the first date she had with his grandfather. He admitted that the details of what was essentially a movie date “made me realize the youthful nature of these people, their virility and vitality.”

The Rich Historical Context of Sinners

At the onset of the film, Smoke and Stack earn their fortune working for the Chicago Outfit. Although not confirmed directly, the latter seems to refer to the real-life Italian-American Mafia family, which was founded in 1910 and later headed by the infamous Al Capone. After arriving in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the twins establish a juke joint for the local black community by buying a sawmill from a racist landowner. Affluent Black men running a business establishment specifically to cater to the cultural and social needs of the Black community in a southern state in the 1930s bear special significance in the film.

The period is defined by strict racial segregation in all spheres of life. The phenomenon was legalized in the form of Jim Crow laws — a collection of statutes that sought to marginalize and systemically repress the Black community by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, attend schools, and enjoy other privileges reserved for the Whites. One of the most hateful groups of White Supremacists ever formed is the Ku Klux Klan. They terrorized the Black community at all levels and found representation in ‘Sinners.’

Coogler showed an Asian couple, Bo and Grace, running two grocery stores in town, one in the Black neighborhood and another in the White neighborhood, in the film. It is a historically accurate depiction of Asian presence in the 1930s American South. Since they were neither Black nor White, it was more socially acceptable for Asians to conduct business with both groups.

The supernatural lore in the film is introduced in the form of the vampire Remmick, an Irish immigrant. He first comes on screen while being hunted by Native American Choctaw vampire hunters, which adds to the group’s reputation as a resilient force against European oppression. The first people to be turned by him are a married couple who are part of the clan. The trio arrives at the juke joint of Smoke and Stack and first attempts to charm their way in. It seemingly demonstrates that the fight for the Black community to lead a life of dignity has been waylaid not only by the overt onslaught of the racist groups, but also by people posing as allies but ultimately adding to the systemic oppression.

The Significance of Blues Music in Sinners

Blues music is a genre developed by the Black community in the southern part of the US in the latter half of the twentieth century. The importance of the genre in the supernatural horror film ‘Sinners’ is foreshadowed by the setting of the story being Clarksdale, a town famously linked with the legend of Robert Johnson. In the early 1900s, Johnson played the guitar at juke joints with an amateur skill set. However, after disappearing for one and a half years, he returned with talent that made him a Blues sensation in Mississippi, before dying at the early age of 27 in 1938. It is widely believed that he sold his soul to the devil while standing at the Crossroads in exchange for mastery over his musical instrument in his final years.

 

In the film, the magical music that calls upon the devil is played by a young boy named Sammie. He is the cousin of Smoke and Stack and is hired by them to play at their newly opened juke joint. When his father warns him about the Devil following his music one day, Sammie turns a deaf ear. But it is exactly what befalls him at the venue. Sammie’s music is what draws the vampires to the establishment, signifying that art has the ability, among other things, to attract the evil. While Johnson had talented musical contemporaries in the 1930s, Sammie is accompanied in the juke joint by Delta Slim, a railway station harmonica player with immense talent.

Even before the vampires turn up, the musicians do not have it easy in ‘Sinners’. The fleeting scenes of bustling settlements seen in the film are bursting with signs of segregation. The threat of White Supremacists depicted in ‘Sinners’ is palpable, as Slim retells the story of how his partner lost his life at their hands. “See, white folks, they like the blues just fine,” he says. “They just don’t like the people who make it,” he observes. This signifies that even though the White community was more than happy to culturally appropriate the Black folks and enjoy the fruits of their labor, it did not translate into them accepting the latter in their own ranks.

The True Essence of Irish Vampire in Sinners

Allegory runs deep with Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’, even with his choice of primary antagonist. While vampires are one of literature’s classic supernatural villains, Coogler adds a layer of social commentary in his work by making the lead vampire Irish, named Remmick. Being alive for hundreds of years, Remmick is a witness to the oppression of the Irish by the English for centuries in his homeland, as well as in the US as an immigrant. From what can be perceived, he is not fond of the Ku Klux Klan, for he knows what it is to be ostracised by society. His rebellious nature is highlighted by the Irish music he brings along, including songs like “Rocky Road to Dublin.”

Remmick offers Smoke and Stack a chance to join his eternal life, noting that it is a path to be free and rise above the dangers faced by Black Americans in early 20th-century Mississippi. However, when they refuse to take his offer of “fellowship and love”, Remmick fails to be better than the original oppressors and forcefully turns them into vampires. Thus, even his empathy with the Black community fails to make Remmick stand in solidarity with them at the cost of his own personal gain. Taking all factors into consideration, we reiterate that even in the midst of all things supernatural, the fictional story of ‘Sinners’ remains firmly rooted in historical truths.

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