Review of Detroit (2017) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

This is a frantic film with shaky camerawork and an almost constant feel of people walking on eggshells, being on their guard, waiting for the next incident to occur, to crank up the tension again. Its quite unsettling viewing, mainly as its based on a true story and it certainly made me angry at the way police officers dealt with the situation. Its undoubtable that a gross misjustice occured, to say the least.

In slightly less tense scenes, music such as motown music is played or performed, which I quite enjoyed as I like that music - it also helped to accentuate the humanity which, of course, they had and I most certainly found myself feeling a mix of sadness and anger at how they were treated. I felt this film did well at keeping the viewer feeling tense and gripped for the duration - the jerky/shaky camerawork also added to a feeling of disorientation and certainly its made clear that those who were caught up in the events, whether purely accidentally in the middle of riots, in houses targeted by the police or otherwise, were given no dispensation.

The acting was quite solid and I thought it seemed a well made film, giving people an insight into a truly dark moment in American police history - a clear example of abuse of power. The film is directed by Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow, of 'The Hurt Locker' and 'Zero Dark Thirty' fame and I'd say this is certainly as good as those films. A solid watch, if a disturbing one due to the plot and themes, I'd say this is worth a watch.