A Brutal Reminder and Shock
Watching Detroit you end up with a sudden realisation that the film is so relevant now. In what is a film set in the summer of 1967 its amazing no astonishing that it is still relevant all these years later. It is that sadness and brutality that pushes you further into your seat as you well up feeling deeply sad for this horrifying true events story. Detroit is a film that, much like director Kathryn Bigelow’s other films, is so relevant both then and now.
The film is set in Detroit in the summer of 1967 where the African America population was at the mercy of a white police force and they were discriminated in every aspect of their lives. The entire community was at a breaking point, and a routine police raid on an unlicensed bar triggered a city-wide riot. Detroit erupted into one of the largest citizen uprisings in U.S. history. The film focuses on an incident that occurred at the Algiers Motel which ended up spiralling out of control as the white police brutally interrogated guests.
I don’t usually feel claustrophobic, I’m fine when it comes to small rooms despite my tall height. If there is one thing that Detroit did to me, apart from make me feel sad and sick, it was that it made me feel claustrophobic. A large proportion of the film is simply set in one part of the Algeiers Motel where the main characters were staying. Setting the scene you have two main characters of Larry and Fred who end up at the motel after escaping off the rioting streets, two white girls in Karen and Julie who are from out of town and staying at the hotel, then you have four other African American guests that are staying in that part of the motel and lastly you have John Boyega’s character Dismukes who is a local security guard at a nearby shop. The scene is set up by Dismukes offering coffee to the nearby soldiers so that they don’t shoot him, despite the fact he is just doing his job. Gunfire is then heard from the motel and the police and army storm the motel and line everyone up in a row against the wall inside the motel with one of the African American guests dead and a brutal and despicable interrogation by Krauss, a white police officer who has gone way out of his way to hate African American’s and takes it too far over and over again.
Krauss is the character that you will hate more than anything throughout the film and long after the film as well, I’m actually getting annoyed just thinking about him. He is well played by Will Poulter and it takes a lot of guts to take on the role knowing that so many people are going to hate you a little bit because of it. John Boyega plays a similar role to you the viewer as he just has to stand there and watch and attempt to help out most of the time as the bleak motel is filled with shouting and abuse. You’re sitting in your chair as you try to think of how everyone can get away or how Dismukes can help his fellow African American’s as he attempts to help but is, in the end, helpless like you are as you watch it.
The claustrophobia kicks in, even more, when the white police officers start doing unbelievably evil interrogation tricks that will shock you and the film is based on real events so I can only imagine that they’re true and beyond messed up. As other officers and army just come and go not helping the African American’s inside from the brutality that they’re facing you end up feeling a deep sadness that such an event could happen. The whole film from start to finish feels like you’re trapped in some sort of nightmare until the end when you find out it’s all true and that the nightmare was real for a lot of people. It’s something that shouldn’t be relevant in today’s world but unfortunately is.If Detroit can do anything then hopefully it shines out from the packed cinema year and a lot of people get a shock to their system.
Detroit is a film that is using a brutal and historical true event moment and warping it through to the modern day to wreck with your system and make you truly think about the state of the world outside your own bubble. Detroit is the type of essential film that you have to see once and you certainly won’t forget about it afterwards. John Boyega deserves an Oscar simply for representing our shock and reaction through his facial expressions and Kathryn Bigelow has made a film that will certainly stand out from the crowd this year.