Escape 28

The first six minutes had me.

I absolutely love Escape 28. Before I even finished the movie, I knew I was going to love it. The opening gave me a reason to pay attention that had nothing to do with a big budget or a famous name.

Opening-scene spoiler: Within roughly the first six minutes, a White man shoots and kills another White man. As I understood the scene, the man he killed was a racist who stood for exactly the opposite of what he believed in.

For me, in the context of that scene, that was justice—not cruel and unusual punishment. That is my response to what the film put in front of me. I saw a man whose opposition to slavery went beyond something he could say while remaining safe.

What grabbed me was his willingness to face harm himself. He appeared prepared to kill and be killed for what he stood for. The danger was not reserved for the people he was helping.

What does your position cost you?

It is easy to tell somebody what you believe when there is no price attached. The question gets harder when standing on that belief puts your own future in danger.

That is what made this character compelling to me. I was watching someone act against slavery even though taking that position could bring serious consequences back to his own door. I respected that commitment.

The scene made me think about the difference between disapproving of something and actually standing against it. Those can look similar in a conversation. Under pressure, they can become very different things.

A freedom story beyond the one we hear most often.

Harriet Tubman is the name many of us first associate with the Underground Railroad. Escape 28 brought my attention to a chapter I was less familiar with.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center describes the film as a fictionalized account of the 1853 escape of 28 enslaved people from Boone County, Kentucky, pursued through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. That distinction matters: a historical foundation does not make every scene a documented event. Historical context: National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

The filmmakers identify John Fairfield, played by Daniel Britt, as a White Underground Railroad conductor working to guide people toward freedom in Canada West through a Midwest network. This is another part of the Underground Railroad story, rather than an unrelated railroad. Film context: the official synopsis.

For me, the story is believable. The danger, the commitment and the desire for freedom gave me something to connect with emotionally. I do not need every freedom story to follow the same familiar names before I can recognize why it matters.

My verdict.

Escape 28 is entertaining and emotion-filled. It held my interest, and its opening made an immediate impression on me.

What stayed with me was a man standing against slavery when that position could cost him dearly. His conviction had consequences, and he was willing to face them. That is why those first minutes mattered to me—and why I wanted to keep watching.

Watch it. Then tell me what you saw in that opening.

Take a moment. Imagine.

If you happen to be of a race or background other than Black, take a few moments—or a day—and imagine what it feels like to be hunted solely because of the color of your skin.

Imagine what it might be like to be treated the way people treat pets. Bred. Sold off. Never knowing who your people were or where they came from.

Imagine.

It hits so deeply because it is a reminder of the stain on this country's history: its cruelty to a people who still exist. For me, that history is not disconnected from the exploitation and profit I still see today.

When you see artists like Touch Trillion$ operating independently of the major music industry, you now know why. His independence is personal. It is about who controls his work, who owns it and who profits from it.

Artists like him are done being pimped by an industry of White people.

Hands Off!!

That's the Ugly Truth.