140.
Detroit
8/10
A gripping drama based around the events, that were, the 1967 Detroit riots. The film is going to show the actions of some rogue police men who respond to the sound of gun shots with retribution on their mind, rather than justice. The timing is around the civil rights movement and a story involving three murdered African-American men in a hotel, this film has a decent running time and along with an all-star cast, will this movie live up to the hype or simply be history?
This movie was always going to be shock inducing for people who didn't know the story, which includes me. The storyline itself takes place mainly around a hotel but also a theatre as we are introduced to each character early on and their own ideals. The movie begins with paintings telling the audience what events have already taken place and how the white and black people are unofficially segregated in the city of Detroit. Some policemen are obviously sympathetic towards their situation because, although they have to close down an illegal party, they try to do so quietly, by using the back door of the warehouse, in order to hide it from the surrounding public and stop a small uproar. This doesn't work though and things spill onto the street. With the community throwing things at the police, the scene escalates until we are down the police station, which is full of African-Americans and mainly men. The story is carried through with real footage of the riots on day one, two and then real footage of the politicians discussing the matters. Some of the characters are introduced in their jobs, such as Krauss, played by Will Poulter, who is on patrol to stop looters and ends up shooting a man in his back and killing him. Elsewhere, a security officer, played by John Boyega and named Dismukes, watches as policemen harass an African American teenager and heads over to defuse the situation. The other main characters are shown to be involved in Motown group and are set to perform before a curfew is put in place due to the rioting. Fred and Larry, along with the other members of the band, head home on a bus, which is set upon by rioters so the band split up and do their best to get home without trouble. Fred and Larry make it to the hotel where the main story takes place and meet to girls who take them to another room to meet their friends. These friends are pretty rough and soon the pair leave to head to their own room. The men still in the room, see the national guard in the distance. They fire on them with a toy gun, that causes a spark and the noise of gunfire, which causes absolute panic. The hotel is quickly surrounded by the police and a few members of the national guard, until they storm the place and the shooter, Carl tries to run but is gunned down. Krauss then plants a knife on him, to cover up yet another of his killings. Others are rounded up and questioned about the gun and shooter but no-one is talking, which I find weird, because with the actually shooter now killed, wouldn't it just be simple to say it was him? When Dismukes turns up, Krauss quickly tells him about the Carl situation and that he tried to grab his gun. The police are pretty rough, forcing everyone up against the wall, brutally hitting them with guns and then taking them to separate rooms for answers, before pretending to shoot them, so that the others will panic. Michigan state police show up and quickly leave, figuring that they don't want to be involved with what is going on inside the house. The racial levels are shown as the two girls, who are white, are questioned as to why they are with African Americans rather than white men. Greene, one of the men to is staying at the hotel is questioned for being these girl's pimp. He explains that he is a war veteran but Krauss tried to disprove this, even though he is showing his card.
The questioning carries on and there is soon commotion outside, which distracts the police and some of the prisoners try to escape. When they reach a door, they see more police approaching, so head quickly back to the wall. When the police head back in, Krauss lets another officer take a prisoner in for the questioning game but this office doesn't get the idea and shoots the guy for real. Krauss heads in and panics, thinking of the story again that the guy reached for the officer's gun. They need to end this now and set the remaining people free, one by one. They have to come to the arrangement that they tell no-one what happened here. Larry is up first and agrees, he runs out and another police officer finds him worse for wear, so takes him to the hospital. Fred is next, but doesn't comply and is shot on the spot. He's the third killing. A sergeant, who didn't agree with any of this, sneaks in through a window and sets free one of the men who was playing dead.
The aftermath is again racial related. Dismukes is found working in a factory and is taken down the station as a suspect to the murders. Even though he doesn't give the true story, these racist detectives don't believe his story that he walked in on these dead bodies. At the other side of the station, the three policemen are ready to be questioned and Krauss asks them to lie. The other two don't and Krauss tried to escape, only to be caught in his car. Larry is in hospital and the band show up to ask about Fred. The scene is shown through real photos of the hotel, the bodies and the remaining evidence. The patrolmen and Dismukes are now on trial and all of the victims are up to give evidence. The defence lawyer presses them, a lot, about their stories and the racist, all white jury, finds the men not guilty or assault, let alone murder. This is enough to make Dismukes vomit outside. The film ends with more loose ties being sorted. The band get a record deal, but Larry no longer wants to sing with them because the owner is a white man. He instead heads to a church and becomes the choir director. The final text states what came next. Dismukes left Detroit due to death threats, the policemen never worked again, the gun was never found and one of the white girls, is now a hair dresser and has raised a family. As for the band, they still perform and Larry is still with the church choir.
Although this movie was quite long and set in one prime location, it had enough story to get the audience gripped and 'entertained', if that's the right word. Will Poulter is a creepy looking bastard and his sinister, racial intent throughout this movie was brilliantly portrayed. Everyone else didn't really stand out though, even with Boyega and even Anthony Mackie in the fold, neither truly stood out like Poulter. With some of the happens in American right now, it must be a scary thought to think that racial and civil movements are once again rising with the marches or supremacists and views from Trump. It was crazy to watch at times and even unbelievable to think that these were the justice system, failing the people that it was in place to protect. It was very tense and due to the fact that it took place during the night, added even more darkness to each scene. Although I can't claim that it is 100% accurate, this film was very topical and this is an applaud to Kathryn Bigelow on her work for handling such a subject and bringing it to the big screen.
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