Review of Detroit (2017) by Kenr — 31 Oct 2018

Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal’s ‘Detroit’ is a gruelling watch, not just for the fact it’s based on shockingly violent, and tragic events in modern USA history but because the screenplay interferes with certain facts for the sake of ‘entertainment’.

While it may be the screenwriter's task to ‘dress-up’ the content of a movie it’s not their task to pad it out with violent falsehoods till it begins to lose sight of its fact-based situation. Many scenes tend to play out as unnecessary, and often they are.

The main storyline focuses on the deadly 1967 race riots that already feature enough tension and brutality to sustain viewer concern. It’s uncertain what moviemakers feel they can add to these terrible events decades later - within an artificial re-enactment (maybe a quality documentary would have been a better medium?) But, it’s doubtful any good might come from this re-hashing of yesterday’s hatreds – especially given the present climate of extreme ‘identity politics’ causing division between all races - this in itself, comes across as exploitative ‘activism’ - pushing suspect negative agendas.

Sometimes, revisiting certain ugly historical events can offer a moral compass - even giving us warnings signs if they are thoughtfully analysed (as with ‘The Free State Of Jones’ in ‘16) – While others, simply fuel more contempt and distrust - feeding increased hatred.

Some may ‘like’ this movie but looking at the financial returns, its possible many prospective patrons may have had the wisdom to see this offering as perhaps, unfortunately, one of the latter variety.