Having been intrigued by the trailers, and hearing nothing but good things about the reviews, when given the opportunity to go with a friend to see Detroit I wasn’t about to turn it down. I’ll admit that going in I didn’t know much about the plot, other than it was based around the 1967 Detroit riots, and that it starred – amongst others – John Boyega and Anthony Mackie. So, if you go and see if after reading just “The Setup” for the movie, you’ll already go into it knowing more than I did. However, I promise that you won’t be disappointed in the film…
The Setup
Based on real life events, Detroit takes place following a series of characters over the nights of Detroit’s 1967 12th Street Riot. The film introduces us to several different individuals. It introduces us to two white cops who are on duty during the riots, and who attempt to arrest a looter who flees when they yell at him to stop. One of them, Philip Krauss, shoots him in the back with a shotgun as he’s fleeing. He manages to escape, but soon collapses under a car. Moments later we follow Krauss as he’s spoken to by his superiors, and is questioned why he shot at an unarmed man as he fled. He claims he was trying to keep order, and is told that he may face murder charges, as the man has since died. However, he’s also allowed to remain on duty while his superiors decide if he’ll face charges or not, and he promptly goes back to work.
Next, we meet a black R&B group, the Dramatics, who are waiting to perform at a club for their big debut. The crowd get pumped up to see them, only to then be told that the rioting is getting too close and they’ve got to evacuate the club. The Dramatics never get to make their debut, and we follow them as they attempt to make their way home through the rioting, get separated, and two of them – Larry Reed and Fred Temple, who isn’t a member of the group but was with them – end up renting a room in a motel for the night to stay off the streets. It’s there, while Larry is trying to get Fred laid, that they meet two white girls, Julie Ann and Karen, who soon introduce them to other motel residents Carl Cooper and Aubrey Pollard. After a prank involving a starter pistol goes wrong the four of them – Larry, Fred, Julie Ann and Karen – leave, and the girls separate to meet up with another friend, ex-Vietnam veteran Greene, while the guys return to their room.
Finally, we’re introduced to Melvin Dismukes, a private security guard who’s been hired to protect a store from looters along with another guard. When the national guard and police arrive outside Dismukes introduces himself to them, in order to protect himself and his colleague from any ill will from the white police/national guard. They’re watched from the hotel by Carl and Aubrey, where everything quickly begins to go wrong. An incident draws the police and national guard to the hotel, where the police begin intimidating the hotel guests into revealing which one of them is a sniper they believe took shots at them. This is the setup for the events that follow, where nothing inside the hotel goes as anyone could have planned, and changed the lives of everyone present forever.
The Delivery
Having gone into the film without any real idea what was going to happen I was intrigued by the events of the film from the very beginning. I’ll admit that I knew very little about the Detroit Riot before watching this film, so I can’t vouch for the historical accuracy of what we saw, but based on the fact that it’s based on real events and recollections of those that were there that night I’m going to assume it’s reasonably historically accurate. If it is then that only makes the events of this film all the sadder, and gives you a real sense of just what the people that night went through, and indeed what so many others like them must have been through over the course not just of the riot but over the history of America. The film pulls no punches in that regard, taking us in and showing us the events inside the hotel from both perspectives, explaining the motivations of all involved and while not making villains out of any characters in particular showing just how bad the tensions between the white cops and the black “suspects” can be.
From the beginning the characters are introduced as real people, showing what they were doing just before all of this, and giving us reasons to feel for all of them. While the opening scene with Krauss hardly makes him out to be anything but a villain, it doesn’t make the cops as a whole appear “heartless” or “racist”, but rather shows the pressure they were under so as not to pull anyone off of duty… even if they should clearly have done exactly that. That one decision to let him return to active duty then lets the rest of the film unfold as it did. The introduction of the Dramatics, and of Larry and Carl, made both characters more than sympathetic, and made the rest of Larry’s story throughout the film feel all the more meaningful given that he never got to debut that night all because of the riots. The two guys didn’t go to that hotel looking for trouble that night either – in fact, they went there specifically to get off the streets and avoid any trouble – and yet trouble found them through no fault of their own. It makes their story more of the focus of the film, at least for me, and it was them that I felt the most connection with as characters. That said, I also felt hugely for the two girls caught up in the whole thing as well, and the complete insanity of the way they were treated just for being where they were and with who they were with.
The story of Dismukes is also a compelling one, given that his entire motivation throughout the film seemed only to be to stop other black guys getting unfair treatment from the white cops. He could have done a better job of that admittedly, but he still comes across as a sympathetic character despite what he’s involved in. The cops that were there that night, minus Krauss, also seem somewhat relatable as well, even if they were far from “right” in their actions. Despite how badly everything went for everyone involved, however, the film keeps up the drama and the tension throughout, and if you don’t know the story before going in – which is why I’m working as hard as I am not to completely ruin the story that unfolds in the Algiers motel – then you’ll undoubtedly be kept on edge the whole time trying to work out what’s going to happen, hoping for the safety of all involved, and hooked into the events as they unfold.
If you’re anything like me you’ll also watch the events after the hotel hoping and praying for a conclusion to the film that feels worthwhile and fulfilling, and if this was a Hollywood Blockbuster then that’s exactly what we’d get, but this isn’t a Hollywood story and in real life things don’t always end the way that they should. That only adds to the drama of this film however and the watchability of it. There’s nothing unwatchable about the film either, from some fantastic performances to some very good camerawork making us feel very much like we’re part of the events to some wonderful (albeit brutal) scenes which really show you how “real” the events of the film were. As I said, the film pulls no punches in its delivery and showing us exactly what happened, and that only makes it even more effective in its delivery. No special effects needed here, no CGI backdrops, no explosions blowing up city blocks, just a film mostly inside one small building of a motel and the events leading up to how the characters got there, and what happened after they left.
The Verdict
There are few words to describe how good this film was. It was brutal in its delivery at times, but it needed to be to show the true drama of everything we’re witnessing. If you see this film and fail to be impacted by the story and the events you witness then I swear you’re not fully human. There is so much here to love, and such a powerful message which isn’t about “resistance” and definitely not about “those people being in the wrong”, but rather a powerful story that’s genuinely sad to think truly happened. You’d like to think that things have gotten so much better since, but the recent protests and abuse by cops in the media in the US may tell us that they really haven’t. Therefore, there’s really only one rating I can give this film, and that’s with one hundred percent commitment to tell you:
Go See It In The Cinema
You won’t see an action adventure. You won’t see a Hollywood blockbuster. You will see a genuinely compelling story that both entertains and outrages you at the same time. You’ll see how incredibly bad the simplest things can go, and it’s impossible not to be affected by this story. It’s truly worth your money, and this kind of powerful, compelling film absolutely deserves your support.