The film stars Dayo Okeniyi, James Cromwell, Kat Graham, and Bruce Dern.

[1][2] It is based on the true story of Shields Green, an African American slave nicknamed "Emperor", who escaped to freedom and participated in abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

Shields takes his gun and looted money and meets up with Levi Coffin (a real Quaker abolitionist) at his cabin.

After McCabe appears, Shields heads to Maryland where meets John Brown and Frederick Douglass, who is preparing the raid at Harpers Ferry.

United States Army Colonel Robert E. Lee and his forces retake it and most of Brown's men suffer casualties.

[5] In January 2020, Briarcliff Entertainment acquired the film's U.S. distribution rights, and planned to release it in theaters on March 27, 2020.

[8] Glenn Kenny of The New York Times gave a mixed review, praising the lead Okeniyi's acting while finding the plot to be "unimaginative" and the dialogue "tired".

[10] On RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams gave it one star, calling it toothless, insulting, inert, tacky, lousy, and mediocre.

"It re-presents a dark period in American history without being inspired or insightful enough to be worth your curiosity or emotional investment.