The Caribbean has a past that none of us can forget, even if we try to. It was colonized by the British for centuries, who brutally exploited multiple Africans whom they had enslaved. This entire history has been beautifully brought up in director Storm Saulter’s “Possession”. The movie follows Claudia McKenzie, a UK based lawyer whose roots go back to the Caribbean. Recently, her law firm has taken up Mr Oliver Connaught’s case of inheritance, and her boss finds her to be the perfect candidate to solve it. Spoilers Ahead
Why Is Claudia Hired To Solve The Case?
Claudia’s ethnicity has a long history of being oppressed and tortured. Since she is a black lawyer with Caribbean roots, her boss finds her perfect to contest this matter. Hope Hill House is left to a Jamaican man who has no connections to Oliver Connaught, but we have to remember that this Jamaican man, Cudjoe East, has a past related to the Connaught family. He worked as a slave on the sugar plantation of Hope Hill House. His entire family and community were enslaved by Oliver Connaught’s ancestors. Cudjoe East may appear to be a normal human being at first, but he has lived in this place for about three hundred years. No human has lived on Earth for more than a hundred years, but this man has been walking on this planet since the 18th century. Charlotte, his half-white sister, cursed him to be alive for this long. He has seen the suffering of his people and has watched his entire family and community die, but could not do anything to save them.
According to Claudia’s boss, since she is black, she must be well-versed in the politics of slavery. He could have handed over the case to any other solicitor of his firm; instead, he chooses Claudia because of his racial bigotry. “Possession” clearly showcases the attitude of white people towards humans of other colors. Claudia could have denied the case, but she takes the opportunity to prove herself worthy because her skin color does not dictate her work ethic or her credibility as a lawyer. To Claudia, Cudjoe East is the villain because he is not related to the Connaughts, but Alfred Connaught still mentioned him in his will as the sole inheritor of Hope Hill House. She thinks the man is a fraud and fights for Oliver’s rights over the inheritance without understanding the true intentions of Oliver’s father, Alfred. As Claudia is the ideal candidate, she is given the chance to take over Mr Oliver Connaught’s case.
Why Was Flora Named As The Witch?
I believe Flora was a woman who practiced Obeah, but it was not known to the whites, of course. Flora was one of the enslaved women on the sugar plantation, and in order to save her people, she had to practice Obeah, but it should be unbeknownst to the whites, their masters. She was involved in the rebellion that the slaves were planning to carry out against their owners, and she was caught. Flora was named as the “witch” by the whites because after her tongue was severed by Mr O’Connell, she survived and lived a healthy life. On the other hand, she cursed Charlotte’s father, the then owner of the sugar plantation at Hope Hill House, through a mosquito bite. Ironically enough, Charlotte’s father, who ordered Flora’s punishment, started to suffer from severe tongue cancer. He was on his deathbed, while Flora was living and thriving. The whites started to fear Obeah because they knew what it could do to them after the incident with Charlotte’s father. That man did not survive, he would have died anyway, but he was deliberately killed by Charlotte.
Why Did Charlotte Want To Put Matthew In Jail?
Nobody likes their property to be taken away from them. Building a property of any kind takes a lot of hard work and luck. The whites, especially the British, definitely had a lot of luck when it came to building property worth millions and billions. Starting from the late 16th century, the British went on colonizing most parts of the world. Through these colonies, they built their assets over time, especially in Jamaica, which was known for their sugar plantations. Charlotte’s family was no better than the others of their kind. They brought people from Africa, enslaved them, and made them work for hours without proper food or basic amenities.
Mind you, these white people also had a thing for black women. Several of them went on to sleep with women of color and have illegitimate babies whom they gave no recognition to or made them a part of their inheritance. Matthew was one such son of Charlotte’s father. However, he did not want Matthew to go unrecognized. Instead, I think, he favored him more than he ever favored Charlotte. He wanted to give the sugar plantation to Matthew so that he could run it as a freeman, and that was not tolerated by Charlotte. Her father’s property belonged to her, and she could not fathom why her father was so hell-bent on giving it away to Matthew, whom she considered a slave and not her half-brother.
On his dying bed, Charlotte’s father probably wanted to tell Matthew something regarding his property, but before he got the chance, he was killed by his daughter. She could not let Matthew take over the property that her father left, and therefore, she wanted to send him to the county jail. Her grudge against her half-brother overpowered her, and in her rage, she even sold his daughter to someone else.
Why Did Charlotte Want To Harness The Power Of Dark Magic?
Charlotte was never favored by her father, he did not consider her opinion in any important matter. Instead, he always gave Matthew the first chance to sway his decision. In short, Charlotte never received the love that she expected from her close ones. Even her husband, Kenneth Connaught, married her only for her wealth. They had a business deal between them, and he never took his wife seriously. On the contrary, he was seen flirting with other women and sleeping with them. Charlotte wanted a child of her own, her own blood who would love her unconditionally, but she was not granted this opportunity by Kenneth. At last, she was left without any option but to choose dark magic as her only way. Mr Waite’s book about European dark magic made her realize that she could bring people under her control if she had a piece of any of their body parts. Charlotte learned dark magic to bring Kenneth under her control and make him surrender to her. Since she desperately wanted a baby, and she also wanted to control her husband, who otherwise would not even look at her, it was the only possible option. Therefore, she learns dark magic, but uses its powers beyond what she was meant to. You can say that the real “witch” is actually Charlotte and not Flora because the latter tried to protect her people, but Charlotte only wanted to protect herself and her grand estate – she did not care about the Africans or anyone else, for that matter. After her work with Kenneth was done, she broke his entire body and put him in a trunk.
Why Did Alfred Connaught Leave The Property To Cudjoe East?
Alfred Connaught knew the dark history of his family. He understood how his family tortured the Africans for centuries. He was not oblivious to the past, and he believed in reparations. Cudjoe East, aka Matthew, was the only one who could wash away his guilt. Alfred did the right thing by leaving the property to Cudjoe. He knew he could not undo the past, but he could at least make amends for it, and he was trying to do the exact thing. However, his son, Oliver, does not understand the true intentions of his father. To him, Cudjoe is an unknown man, and he does not want to give away his property to him. Although he feels like Hope Hill House has a lot of negativity, he does not want to give up on the entire property.
Why Does Charlotte Possess Cudjoe?
Possession is the only way that will make Cudjoe hand over the property to the Connaughts, and Charlotte knows it pretty well. She did not want to give up the estate in the past, and in the present, she cannot let Cudjoe jeopardize Oliver’s rightful inheritance. Back in the 18th century, Charlotte’s family physically owned Cudjoe and his community, but in the present, she not only owns his body but also his soul. She controls him and makes him sign on the inheritance papers that transfer the entire fortune to Oliver’s family. Cudjoe’s possession by Charlotte also showcases the idea of eternal slavery. Cudjoe fears being a zombie, not the one you see in horror films, but a person who loses their sense of self. His fears come true when Charlotte actually makes him a living zombie. She does not want him to live happily; instead, she wants him to suffer. I think Charlotte wants to make Cudjoe realize that he is her slave forever. He cannot live freely; he has to live under his half-sister’s shadow forever.
Why Did Charlotte Curse Matthew?
Charlotte loved her baby boy, and he was the only thing that mattered most to her. She had forcefully earned her baby from Kenneth, who did not want to impregnate her out of love, and she did not want to lose him to anything. Nevertheless, karma returned to her when it made her baby suffer. She sold Matthew’s daughter, and this time, her baby was going to be taken away from her. All the slaves were made to work for months without food or water, as they were all under her dark magic. She tortured every one of them and thought she could get away with her wrongdoings, but the curse of so many people caught up to her. Their curse did not harm her directly, but it harmed her baby boy. She was distressed because she realized what she had done to others and asked Matthew to save her boy. Matthew promised to return to save her boy from the curse, but he failed to keep his promise because he was busy saving his wife and people. Throughout the entire night, he tried to lead them to the mountains and forgot about his promise to Charlotte, and she kept waiting on him. Ultimately, when the sun rose above the horizon, Charlotte’s baby was not wailing; he was as silent as the dark of the night. Unable to overcome her grief over her boy’s death, she cursed Matthew to eternal suffering.
Why Was Charlotte Buried In The Trunk?
Charlotte was buried in the same trunk where she kept Kenneth’s broken body. Matthew and his people realized that a powerful witch like her could live even after death. Her soul had the power to cause anybody harm, and they did not want to take any such risks. Hence, they decided to bury her in the trunk and put it under the floor of her room with a Juju protection over it. However, Claudia breaks that protection spell when she opens the trunk and sets Charlotte’s soul free. At first, she does not understand what she has done, but later, Angelo’s death and Oliver’s possession prove Cudjoe’s theory correct. She does a grave mistake by opening the trunk, and it is her who has to end it.
What Happens To Claudia In The End?
In the end, Claudia tries to negotiate with Charlotte’s soul to leave Oliver’s body, but she refuses to do so; instead, she tries to harm her. Claudia, the clever woman that she is, spits rum on Oliver’s face and sets his body on fire, thus obliterating Charlotte’s soul with him. However, Cudjoe ultimately does not get the property. It gets passed down to Reggie Connaught, and since he is still a child, nothing can be done about it until he is an adult. Well, I really hope that Reggie will grow up to be a responsible adult and hand over the property to the rightful people, the Africans of Jamaica, who are the original owners of the estate because they built it entirely with their own blood, sweat, and tears.
