Detroit

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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The Algiers Motel incident occurred in Detroit, Michigan, during the 12th Street Riot of 1967. Three black youths were killed, and nine other people injured in a confrontation with the Detroit Police, Michigan State Police, the Army National Guard, and a private security guard. The violence occurred after gunfire was reported near the motel.

The new film “Detroit” is based on that incident.

Kathryn Bigelow (Oscar-winner for “The Hurt Locker”) directs with a sure hand, proving once again that she’s expert in choreographing violence. Her retelling is intense, replete with dead bodies, blood, plenty of shooting and looting. Language is raw.

Kathryn Bigelow is a fine filmmaker and her frequent scriptwriter Mark Boal (“Zero Dark Thirty”) is skilled. The theme is race in America, using this shameful episode to make a point that things are bad.

But we knew that.

The acting is topnotch, although essentially victim roles for the black actors and bigoted psychopath roles for the white stars. No heroes here.

Jacob Latimore and Algee Smith are cast as two friends looking for a little fun with a couple of white women after a dull evening at the Fox Theater. They congregate in Jason Mitchell’s room. 

Arguably, the lead is Will Poulter as a patrolman involved in shooting a looter. He’s accompanied by Ben O’Toole and Jack Reynor, fellow officers who go berserk when they see white women in the company of black men. Scary in his role of a boyish psychopath, Poulter takes the occupants of the Algiers Hotel hostage amid the chaos of the moment.

Anthony Mackie is powerful as a soldier just back from Vietnam. “Star Wars” star John Boyega offers a hovering presence as a security guard at a local grocery store.

“Detroit” is playing out its story at Tropic Cinema.

The film is more like a documentary of an event that has no satisfactory ending. Black lives are proven not to matter. Perpetrators of unreasoned violence remain unpunished.

There is no solution in 1967 — and perhaps not now.

While “Detroit” is based on a true story, the film serves little purpose aside from being a snapshot of injustice. But rather than a history lesson, it feels more like a horror movie.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com