Director Kathryn Bigelow's docudrama depicts the civil unrest that rocked Detroit during the volatile summer of 1967. On the night of July 23, a police raid on an African-American social club incited what came to be known as the 12th Street Riot. A mob forms when partygoers are herded into paddy wagons. Bottles are thrown, and then bricks, followed by looting and arson, punctuated by shouts of “Burn it down!” This leads to a visceral confrontation at the seedy Algiers Motel, where seven black men and two white women are brutally humiliated, graphically tortured, and abused by police officers. Bigelow tells this agonizing, provocative story from various and often conflicting perspectives. Philip Krauss (Will Poulter) is an overtly racist police officer, seemingly based on 24-year-old David Senak, who was exonerated and returned to duty after he shot and killed an unarmed looter. Factory worker Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega) is moonlighting as a security guard; Robert Greene (Anthony Mackie) is an unemployed veteran; Fred Temple (Jacob Latimore) and Larry Reed (Algee Smith) are members of an R&B group. Julie Ann Hysell (Hannah Murray) and Karen Malloy (Kaitlyn Dever) are teenage hitchhikers from Columbus, OH. And there's Aubrey Pollard (Nathan Davis Jr.) and Carl Cooper (Jason Mitchell), the latter firing a toy starter pistol out the window that alerts the Michigan State Police and National Guard, who think he's a sniper. Although the subject matter is powerful and timely, Detroit is full of so much excessive violence that it becomes revolting and feels exploitative. Optional. (S. Granger)
Detroit
Fox, 143 min., R, DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $34.99, Dec. 12 Volume 32, Issue 6
Detroit
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