Starring
John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason
Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Kaitlyn Dever, Jack Reynor, Ben O'Toole,
Anthony Mackie. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. (2017, 143 min).
Detroit
is Kathryn Bigelow's best film to date. Hard to believe this is the
same director once responsible for Point Break.
You
know what else is hard to believe? That the horrific events in the
movie actually happened. I knew about the 12th Street Riots, which
stemmed from a conflict between the predominantly white Detroit police force
and the African-American community after raiding an after-hours club. But
I had no knowledge of the incident that occurred at the Algiers Motel
on the fourth night of riots, when police, led by a hot-headed,
trigger-happy cop - already in trouble for previously shooting a
fleeing black man - viciously and mercilessly interrogate several
tenants, one of whom they suspect is a sniper who took a shot at
them. It was actually a starter gun and, given the circumstances, a pretty bone-headed prank. But how the police retaliate and what happens in the aftermath is beyond appalling.
 |
| "Candy? Where?" |
The
film does take a few dramatic liberties - and admits such during the
end credits - but the core message remains clear: The Algiers
incident was a travesty of justice and there's no justification for why things escalated so violently. What's even more unnerving,
considering the recent plethora of incidents involving police and
African-Americans, is the sickening realization that Detroit's
message may be more timely than ever.
 |
| The snozzberries taste like snozzberries. |
Like
her previous two films, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark
Thirty, Bigelow shoots events with an intimate urgency calculated
to instill unease right from the get-go; we're
consistently caught off-guard in every scene. Similarly, the city of
Detroit is depicted as a war zone, only this one's
right in our back yard and the enemy is someone we're supposed to
trust. But unlike those other two films, Detroit is far
more emotionally incendiary, partially because we know this shouldn't
be happening, but also because of the time taken to establish every
character, all of whom are portrayed by a terrific ensemble cast.
Because we feel like we know them, their fates matter to us more than
those in Zero Dark Thirty.
But
you know what probably isn't hard to believe? That Detroit
completely bombed in theaters. It didn't deserve to, but maybe
its unfortunate timeliness worked against it. Who the hell wants to
pay to see in a theater what we've been watching and reading in the
news every day? But Detroit is a hell of a film that deserves a new life on
home video. Compelling, disturbing and ultimately tragic, you'll be
mad as hell by the time the end credits roll, but you're not likely
to forget what you just saw.
You
can't say that about Point Break, can you?
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES
(these are all very brief, 1-2 minute segments): "The Truth of
Detroit"; "The Cast of Detroit"; "The Invasion of
Detroit"; "The Hope of Detroit"; "Detroit: Then
and Now"
VIDEO:
"Grow" (featuring Algee Smith and the real Larry Reed)
DVD
& DIGITAL COPIES
KITTY CONSENSUS:
MEE-OW! ONE OF THE BEST OF THE YEAR
No comments:
Post a Comment