The link between racism and unlawful police brutality never seems to leave the headlines, and this makes Kathryn Bigelow's latest film, the true story of the murder of three black men in 1967, a relevant topic today. The fact that Detroit is set 50years ago serves to illustrate how little America has moved on with regard to race relations.
Set to the backdrop of the Detroit race riots, the film's opening sequences paint a striking picture of a city in violent chaos, but its broad scope soon gives way to a more focusedtelling of police brutality against a small group of youths.
Larry (Algee Smith) is a burgeoning singer on the cusp of a record signing. One night at the Algiers Motel, Larry and his friend Fred cross paths with some youths goofing around with a starter pistol. With riot tensions high, the paranoid and trigger-happy authorities move in to "quell" what they believe is a sniper.
Bigelow's restless camera jitters and shakes its way around the scenes with a kinetic momentum that perpetuates the mood and tension of a powder keg ready to blow. It's an exhausting watch.
