Detroit (2017)

When I first saw and reviewed Detroit, I was missing a lot of pieces.  I went in looking for ways the film may exploit or fetishize cop on black violence but didn't find that. Instead I was struck at how the film makers centred their story around one character, a character who would change his life path due to the trauma of this one event. In this modern age of debate over whether or not marginalized folks who are traumatized by their interactions with police forces had a right to their reactions I thought this film, an attempt to tell the story of one such traumatizing event, would shed some light on this. In focusing on the story of Algee Smith's character the film seemed to be making a case for his extended period of trauma when so many are trying to deligitimize it.

On further reflection and learning more about the event and what wasn't highlighted by the film, I have come to see I missed so much. The film's approach to focus singularly on this one event, this one moment and the folks who were in it while they were in it originally seemed like a smart choice. To see a horrific event played out like this should help its audience to understand how life changing it is, how insidious it is. But I have come to see it's almost the opposite.

Detroit, in its singularity, struggles to capture a context for the film. By choosing not to set the film in a wider world the events can seem remote. While I was making all sorts of connections to other events I was aware of from that era to today, I now realize I was reading that in, that the film didn't offer it to me or to others. I think I was giving the film far more credit than it deserves.

I still think the film has some amazing performances in it, performances which humanize the characters beyond being the stereotypes that might make the film even more problematic. I still think the direction is cleverly done creating a sweat inducing sense of panic in the audience. But I now see that the film may let folks off the hook with that. While I was taking it to make us feel connected to victims, I see the film in it's "bad apples" approach attempts to not indict the true problems behind events like this. Sure the film shows quite adeptly how the system was stacked against accountability for the cops involved, but it still narrows that scope to just these few bad ones.

I can blame some of my misread on the fact I spent 80% of the movie looking at the floor due to Bigalow's whiplash style of film making that makes me feel like I have to vomit when I watch it. But I think more of it had to do with me looking for a film to say "hey, we're here, the victims of police violence are real." I thought Detroit was that but by leaving out so many important details it really fails to be that.

Detroit
Starring: Algee Smith, Jon Boyega, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Will Poulter
Director: Katherine Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal