“Moan” raises the stakes with both its reverse slave imagery and its disturbing depiction of sex addiction. “Having a white girl chained up at a black man’s house, that definitely seems manipulative,” says Carmen Van Kerckhove, president of the diversity-training firm New Demographic. Brewer understands how the film seems confrontational—that’s the point. “Craig wanted this film to be provocative,” says Jackson, “but it’s a pretty straightforward redemption story when you look at it.” Brewer insists the film works on several levels. “Audiences do not find it shocking when Rae wakes up with the chain,” he says. “If anything they’re relieved, and they understand Lazarus’s actions, as misguided as they may be.” Let’s hope that it’s not Brewer who’s misguided.
