Director Kathryn Bigelow's last two movies have gave us an outlook of different sides of both the Iraqi War and the hunt for Bin Laden. In The Hurt Locker, she gave us an inside look of how the soldiers handle the pressure while a combat but also when handling a bomb. Almost, every scene involving a bomb there is suspenseful. She gave us the same amount of suspense in Zero Dark Thirty in which the soldiers and a determined leading female character sacrifices their time and lives into hunting down Bin Laden. With her two great movies surrounding two real-life events, I have the confidence and anticipation of watching how Bigelow will handle her next project surrounding a real-life event. Now, she goes back into the 1960s in which she tackles the Detroit riots in which it is centered around the incident in the Algiers Motel. The movie is a harrowing experience to conceive, however, both Bigelow's and writer Mark Boal's ambitions are overwrought with so much tension that the narrative becomes scattered with social commentary instead of explaining what is going on with such detail compared to their last two films.
The movie is a three-act structure in which the narrative takes place in 1967 in Detroit in which African-Americans have segregated to communities where the police force are made up of predominantly white people. The 12th Street riots have begun as police raided the place for not having a valid liquor license but the black community retaliates. The National Guard is involved in the riots as it continues. We are introduced to three patrolmen - Krauss, Flynn and Demens (Will Poulter, Ben O'Toole and Jack Reynor) - as they are driving through the streets as the chaos is happening. They are racist as they are chasing down a black man who was unarmed but also was stealing from a grocery store. Krauss' superior, Detective Tanchuck (Darren Goldstein), chastises him. We also meet security officer, Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega), as he witnesses an officer harassing a black teenager. Dismukes helps him but the boy insults him.
Most of the central movie (its second act) takes place in the Algiers Hotel, an inexpensive, rundown motel that is filled with prostitution and drugs. After the theater experience, Larry and Fred (Algee Smith and Jacob Latimore) head to the motel to stay for the night. They go to the pool to meet with two white women, Julie and Karen (Hannah Murray and Kaitlyn Dever). The ladies invite the guys to their room. Upon entering the room, the guys meet with Carl, Lee and Aubrey (Jason Mitchell, Peyton Alex Smith and Nathan Davis Jr.). They become initially dismissive of them and then they go into a conversation of how the police is handling African-Americans. Carl is playing as he fires off a toy gun and afterwards, he sees a few police officers and scares them as the officers think that they are being fired upon. The police, including Krauss and Dismukes, head down to the hotel to interrogate everybody in an emotionally disturbing sequence. Afterwards, things go haywire in the aftermath of the hotel incident.
The movie is relatively scary and parallels to today's society as how people, not solely African-Americans, are treated with disrespect even with proof or their truth. Sometimes, from the point of the view of the police, it is not enough. However, I question this movie because I felt that 2/3rds of the film were from the point of the view of the police and not the African-American community. We get some of it before the Algiers hotel incident as they are hanging out and addressing their commentary of how the police is organized against minorities. I wanted more of the African-American characters' perspective as to how their story is being told. Because we are following mostly the policemen's perspective for the majority of the film, we do not get much perspective from the African-American community except they have been rioting because of an invalid liquor license. Is there more that meets in the eye during the riots?
Even though the first act a bit messy in introducing the characters, the hotel incident is a microcosm of a mosaic of hatred and suffering for the African-Americans in the 1960s in Detroit and I was a bit disappointed that we did not explore more conflict or a firm stance as to how they are mistreated. It is more of an eyewitness view or a docudrama. Bigelow's direction in the middling portion of the film is as tense and painful as any scene in her filmography that I have ever seen because there is disturbing realism in these scenes as the audience is either an eyewitness or maybe an innocent policeman witnessing these terrible events. Her camerawork is fantastic as cinematography Barry Ackroyd films it as a historical reel that you want to learn but simultaneously avert your eyes and covering your ears from the gunfire. The gunfire sounded real like it did in Dunkirk. This is one of the most viscerally impactful and more uncomfortable films I've seen in a while.
The cast is dynamite across the board even though there is not one central character to follow from both sides of the coin from the police force and the African-American community. Jacob Latimore is having a great year with the overlooked Sleight and this movie and Algee Smith is excellent as a person with dreams of becoming a singer. I think the Smith gives the best performance as he had the most range and had emotional depth especially towards the end. John Boyega of Star Wars fame is present but is portrayed as an eyewitness. Will Poulter, Jack Reynor and Ben O'Toole are solid as cartoonish and callous policemen that provides such intensity and horror that you want to be angry at them.
I do recommend Bigelow's movie but not with enthusiasm. I thought the movie was well-crafted and well-acted especially in the second act where you feel like that you are in that terrible chapter of their lives. However, I felt like something was missing that could have made it a greater experience, instead of a solid but horrifying outlook of Detroit in the 1960s. This is an important movie to watch, regardless of how great or good it is because it is a shockingly relevant reel of disgust. Also, the third act, which the movie turns into a courtroom drama, becomes a bit heavy-handed and a bit overwrought with anger that felt irrelevant just to add more time and the tension withers away. The revelation after the situation is shocking and unbearable but sometimes, time has to go on but with concern and questions. Detroit is a movie that focus on a location that seemed insignificant during a significant event with large context that unfortunately parallels to today's news events. This was an immersive experience that is startling and important but it will be hard to revisit. However, you will feel better discussing this movie and comparing it to today's world with somebody.
***
Comments
Post a Comment