This will not be easy to watch, but I'm sure you already knew that. I hope you also know, you MUST watch it. Not just to support the film, but because as Toure said during the Alamo Drafthouse livestream Q&A with Algee Smith (who played Larry) and Chris Chalk (who played Officer Frank), this true story is "50 years old and yesterday and tomorrow." It is a reminder of the generational pain of violence towards Black people in this country, one that Chris Chalk reminded the audience during the Q&A started even before Trayvon, and before Rodney King.
Director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) directed this film, much of which included having the actors act without a script based solely on the circumstances of the scene. This fact, coupled with the other extreme of Bigelow's determination to get as close to the truth as possible, allowed for the Black pain and experience to both be so palpable in the film. With the intensity of the scenes, you cannot help but to experience emotions ranging from fist-clenched anger, weeping sorrow, life-threatening fear, and dare I admit at some level hatred.
I had both angry and sad tears stream down my face throughout the film, sometimes even in the less intense scenes. Much of this is due not just to the fact that this a true story, but also because it is so present today. I mean, just a few days ago Trump said to law enforcement, "When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon. You see them thrown in rough. I said, 'Please don't be too nice. Like, don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody. I said, 'You can take the hand away, OK?'" And hearing officers cheer during this statement came to mind when the officers cheered in the courtroom scene in Detroit. When Krauss (Will Poulter) says they should have complied, it reminded me of my Facebook timeline (before I started unfriending and blocking for my own mental health). The pain of the family members in the film was a reminder of the families of the innocent lives taken by police in the last few years.
And when Larry struggles to go back to music, because he could no longer stand the thought of making music for White people to listen to, well it made me think of being at the Kendrick concert and watching the sea of White people singing along to "Alright." And not that I condone hate, but it was refreshing that Larry was allowed to sit in his feelings unapologetically. At no point in the film were we forced to watch him come to some realization or acceptance that maybe he should get over this anger, or what Algee Smith probably accurately described as PTSD.
By the way, Larry Reed was indeed an original member of The Dramatics before they made it big with hits like my all-time fave "Me and Mrs Jones." What could the trajectory of his life had been if not for this horrific event? What could the trajectory of the lives of those who have not survived police brutality have been?
I share the sentiment with those that say Detroit is a horror film, of the scariest variety. I recall when I was younger enjoying Scream more than a Child's Play or Nightmare on Elm Street, because it could actually happen. There were no ghost possessed dolls or demons with blades chasing you in your sleep. They were just people who didn't value humanity, and the same can be said of the story shared in Detroit. It can, has, and continues to happen time and time again.
So thank you, John Boyega, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Anthony Mackie, Nathan Davis Jr., Gbenga Akinnagbe, and the other amazing actors in the film, for enthralling yourselves in the pain of this true American story, a once seemingly untold story that desperately needs to be heard! The pain we have been feeling recently is not new pain for this country, but rather a continuation of the legacy of pain in this country. Let us speak and shine light on these pains, past and present, as we continue to fight for healing, justice and the true freedom to just be!
Please support this film!
10/10