5 Things You Learn Re-watching Ryan Coogler's Sinners
5. The Characters Represent The Seven Deadly Sins
The seven deadly sins are the following: lust, Gluttony, Wrath, envy, lust, greed and Sloth. Smoke represents greed because of his obsession with money and they always say, “money is the root of all evil.” Delta Slim represents Gluttony because he was drinking away his depression from losing his best friend and he went out from the same thing that was going to kill him which was alcohol. Grace represents Wrath because when Rimmick threatened her daughter she was so consumed with vengeance that it practically got everyone in the Juke killed. I can go on and on but you get the point i’m trying to make.
4. Smoke Was Protecting Stack From The Klan
Now I did not pick up on this the first or even the second time watching this. After what seems like the final showdown with the vampires, Smoke sticks around the Juke Joint to exterminate the Klan as an act of vengeance for slaughtering his friends and brother. However, something you might not notice is when the Klan visit the Juke Joint in the morning the doors are locked and they can't get in. Stack had already been turned into a vampire at this point so he was still inside not only hiding out from the Klan but also to avoid the sunlight
3. Sammie Owning Smoke & Stack's Father's Guitar
In the beginning of the film, Sammie's father told him, “if you keep looking for the devil, one day he's going to follow you home.” On their way to the train station Stack lied to Sammie and told him he was playing the same guitar owned by legendary Delta blues musician Charlie Patton. It turns out the guitar was previously owned by the twins father. The way both twins speak of their father is totally different.
When Stack speaks out him he speaks from a place of understanding and forgiveness. Meanwhile, when Smoke speaks of his father he is speaking from a place of hatred and disgust. Considering the twins father was a terrible man I would assume that apart of his soul is still attached to the guitar which is why Sammie's music was attracting evil spirits.
2. The Chow's Operating Two Grocery Stores
I’ve seen numerous reactions to this film and few reactors have picked up on the Chow's owning two grocery stores that serves white folks and one that serves black folks. There weren’t a lot of grocery stores that were operating in the south that would serve black folks but the ones that did were run by the Asian community after the reconstruction Era. From the end of the 1870's to the end of 1900's a lot of grocery stores in the Delta was run by Asian families.
1. Smoke Has PTSD
Something that is brought up a couple of times in the film is that the twins both fought in the war. I’m not sure the effect it had on Stack, however, we can see how much it had on Smoke. When I first saw the film I assumed the first shot of the twins, Smoke was checking what time it was but if you pay close attention his hand trembles a lot. Because of his mental condition Stack has to roll Smoke's cigarettes for him. On top of that him having to kill the love of his life and watching his brother get turned into a vampire will certainly have a long lasting effect on him.
