Keke Palmer takes the lead in “Alice,” a new film about an enslaved woman in 1800s Georgia who escapes plantation life and discovered the year is actually 1973.

The movie is inspired by the story of Mae Louise Miller, who says she escaped from captivity in 1960s Mississippi, 100 years after slavery was abolished in the United States.

Palmer has mixed reactions to the story.

“I think it was it was shocking, but it was not, like, surprising,” said Palmer. “It was like, oh my gosh, but then when you really sit down and think about it, and I think about just the stories I've heard growing up of what my people have endured in this country, you think to yourself, why didn't I think of it before? You know, why have you heard this story before? Why hasn't it been told in this kind of way, where, why has this history been hidden?”
 
In the film, after Alice escapes the plantation, she runs into a disillusioned political activist named Frank, played by Common. Franks takes Alice in, where she learns she has been lied to.

“Alice” has been called a revenge film or an emancipation film, but for Palmer, it’s about much more.

“I think the movie is a lot of things. I'm so excited to see how other people perceive it,” Palmer said. “I think for me, the movie is about freedom and freedom being something that only you can give yourself, no matter the circumstances. And I think the poetry of that is very well exemplified through the relationship between Frank and Alice because here we have Alice, who actually experienced zero freedom. And yet her concept of freedom and her choice to believe in her ability to be free is far stronger than someone like Frank, who's actually experienced more of a version of freedom than she has.”

“Alice” also stars Jonny Lee Miller, who plays the owner of the plantation. The film is playing in theaters.