Director:Â Kathryn Bigelow
Cast:Â John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Kaitlyn Dever, Jack Reynor, Anthony Mackie, John Krasinski, Samira Wiley, Hannah Murray, Ben O’Toole, Nathan Davis Jr., Peyton Alex Smith, Malcolm David-Kelly, Laz Alonso, Chris Chalk, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 15
Running Time: 142 mins
Release Date:Â 25/08/2017
Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow enters a different war zone from that she portrayed in her previous two award-winners, THE HURT LOCKER and ZERO DARK THIRTY, which focused on episodes in the recent War on Terror – and instead heads back in time to focus on one of the biggest tragedies during the unrest and brutality of change in the late 1960s.
Re-teamed with her collaborator from the above films, Mark Boal, her new film, DETROIT, focuses on the events of July 25th and 26th, 1967, that occurred at the Algiers Motel in Detroit in the shadows of the ’12th Street Riot’, which stemmed from a late-night raid on an illicit after-hours bar.
The film chronicles the intense escalation of violence, as a starter pistol fired out of the motel window on the street by one of the black motel guests is like a red rag to a bull as the police and military convene on the location.
Amidst the shocking acts of brutality, in which a group of mixed-race motel guests (two young white females included) are assaulted and beaten by duty officers, the film focuses on two key characters – a security guard, Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega), at the heart of the area where the riots are occurring – and a hot-headed police officer, Philip Krauss (Will Poulter), with a habit of shooting before thinking.
There are other subplots and character arcs throughout the film, but Bigelow wisely encapsulates the whole story, in much the same way Christopher Nolan has done with the recent DUNKIRK, with the incident and location being the whole focus.
DETROIT certainly covers a period which has been assessed competently and with quality in the past with films like THE DEFIANT ONES and MISSISSIPPI BURNING awakening the debate in race relations and the reasoning behind them. Refreshingly, there is a stirring balance of viewpoints, with both sides of the coin questioning the consequences of their actions.
Boyega’s star continues to rise with a great supporting performance as Dismukes and like his STAR WARS co-star Daisy Ridley, is wise enough to find contrasting roles away from fighting battles with the New Order. However, the stand-out performance is Poulter’s, who is simply terrifying as Krauss, as brutal and evil a character as those that have gone before it.
DETROIT is not an easy film to watch and more sensitive viewers may well find the violence and brutality towards the citizens hard-going, but Bigelow and Boal make no apologies about their mandate and agenda by producing one of the most important and thought-provoking 1960s dramas of the last ten years.
