Detroit 2017

     The Detroit Police Department raids an illegal after hours dance hall and bar in 1967.  They fill three paddy wagons with the customers.  Afterwards, the largest race riot in the US history begins.  This story centers around the Algiers Motel incident.  This occurred on July 25, 1967 on 12^th Street.  Three black men were killed and nine other people received brutal beatings.  There were seven black men and two white women detained.  One black man used a starting pistol to shoot out of the window.   Down below were police officers, members of the National Guard and other armed men.  They thought there was a sniper shooting out this window.  Some of the police officers came into the building and rounded up anyone inside.  They shot one of the black men right away and he was the one who shot the pistol.  They yelled at, beat and interrogated the others about the gun.  None of them knew where the gun was but that didn’t satisfy the officers.

     I think this film needed tighter editing to shorten the length.  Not very much time is given to the causes that brought on the riot in Detroit.  The violence from law enforcement shows their bias against all the black people.  If you were black, you were guilty.  If you were white, you were innocent.  Except for the two white women because they were with black men.  Even at the trial the all white jury members found the accused to be innocent.  Maybe it’s fortunate that later none of the officers worked in law enforcement again?  There was a lot of focus on the criminal background, large or small of those that had been victimized.  There was a lot of criticism that black women were not shown to be important in this story.  3* (This movie is OK)

143 min, Crime directed by Kathryn Bigelow with John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, Chris Chalk, Mason Alban, Bennett Deady, Andrea Eversley, Michael Jibrin, Khris Davis, Tokunbo Joshua Olumide, Daniel Washington.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 84% critic 79% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 162 reviews, Metacritic 77 out of 100 with 49 critics 6.4 out of 10 with 158 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Detroit, Michigan; Brocton, Mason, Lawrence, Boston, Lynn, Malden and Dorchester, Massachusetts.  Kathryn Bigelow also directed The Hurt Locker of 2008.  On both films she used three or four cameras at a time.  They were kept in constant motion around the actors.  She had lighting on the entire set so the performers had more flexibility to move around.  She told the actors she wanted their emotions to be as raw as possible and after two or three takes, she said she had what she wanted.  Julie Hysell was one of the white women survivors and she was on set throughout most of the shooting.  During July of 1967 there were also riots in Newark and Plainfield, New Jersey; Cambridge, Maryland; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Watts Neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.