Molecules to Movies: Detroit (2017)

This post contains spoilers. This is not a summary review, but rather closer to analysis. This is really just my interpretation of the film. I assume you've seen the movie. I would like to focus on my experience watching this as a white male and noticing the white privilege that has saved me from experiencing the real-life situations with police depicted in this film. I have committed crimes and been beaten by police and yet I have no criminal record. White skin really can be a get out of jail free card. Watch the trailer at the end of my post.

Detroit is directed by Kathryn Bigelow and stars John Boyega, Algee Smith and Will Poulter.

Detroit begins on a night in 1967. With the movement of African-Americans from the South to the North, racism has followed as minorities have been confined to the segregated inner city while white populations fled to the suburbs. Rebellions have taken place in Harlem, Philadelphia, Watts and Newark. Detroit is next.

There has been much criticism that this story is being told by a white director. I think that criticism is valid, although I think the director is obviously genuine in wanting to tell this story. The question is whether this is meant to speak to black or white audiences. I can't help feeling that this is told from a perspective that is clearly asking white people to put themselves in the shoes of African-Americans victimized by the police. It is gut-wrenching and aggravating to watch as the residents of this city find themselves powerless against the police. The police can make up any story, plant any evidence, say they didn't mean to shoot a guy in the back, and just get away with it.

This film might backfire and bring a racist response from some audiences. A movie like L.A. Confidential similarly shows a powerful white police officer who gets away with murder. But in that case (spoilers) the white officer is taken down by other white officers. Corruption is defeated.

The film begins with a raid on a black after hours club that does not have a liquor license. The entire clientele, including a soldier in uniform, is loaded off into a paddy wagon in front of the building, publicly humiliated in front of a growing crowd of onlookers. Like a lot of the events in this movie, I want to place myself in this situation and understand exactly what white privilege means. This is a neighborhood where a lot of people have nowhere to go legally for fun. In my neighborhood there are plenty of bars within walking distance. However, I have lived in poorer predominantly black neighborhoods and there is very little nightlife. I have also been at plenty of illegal parties, in houses, at venues with no liquor license, BYOB spaces without licenses, and even drinking in the street or at a park. Do you know how many times I've been arrested for doing any of this? Zero. I haven't even received a ticket.

The riots quickly erupt overnight. The National Guard and army is deployed. White television audiences are left wondering how Detroit became a warzone. One could argue that it's because the government turned it into one. The main characters are a black security guard , a young R&B group called the Dramatics and a police officer who early on shoots a looter in the back. John Boyega plays Melvin Dismukes, the security guard defending a storefront. Algee Smith plays Larry Reed, a singer in the Dramatics, who were about to headline a concert. Hoping for a Motown record deal, the performance was abruptly canceled because of the riot. Unable to safely make it home, Larry and a friend take refuge at the Algiers Motel. Will Poulter plays Philip Krauss, a young police officer on a power trip, who early on shoots a looter in the back and leaves him to die. The man was only carrying a bag of food. Krauss rationalizes his actions; since he ran from the police, he must have committed a more serious crime. While his superiors recommend murder charges against him, he is allowed to remain in uniform and work through the riots.

The uniforms each of them wear affect the way they are perceived by others. Wearing a security uniform and gun, Melvin can approach the police and soldiers without fear of violence. At the same time, young black men do not distinguish him from the police, calling him an Uncle Tom. Larry is wearing his tuxedo from the aborted concert performance. Other black men ridicule his dress, while two white women are impressed. The police do not care how he is dressed. He is just another enemy to them. Philip wears a police uniform and literally can shoot people in the back, plant evidence and call it self-defense, offering no proof other than his word.

What follows is based on real events. A man, Carl, shoots a starter pistol from the window of the Algiers Motel just to scare the army and police. Believing he is a sniper, they retaliate by firing into the hotel, with no care for any of the occupants they should be protecting. Phillip shoots Carl in the back, plants a knife and claims Carl tried to steal his pistol. Will nobody question how someone gets shot in the back in such a confrontation? There are two white women who were in the hotel. They are treated just as brutally as the black men, looked down on by the police just for being there at all. The police assume they are prostitutes. Melvin is the only black man present who joins the group of police and soldiers. With his uniform, he blends in but is clearly questioning the actions led by the Detroit PD. Philip leads the assault, demanding to know where the gun is. Being a hotel, any rational person should not blame the occupants of every room for what is clearly the actions of one person, if there even were someone shooting a real gun from the hotel. The entire point is that Philip does not see individuals, but rather one common enemy.

The tactics they use come out of a war movie. Even in war these tactics amount to torture, too brutal for anyone, much less civilian populations. They separate one person from the group at a time, taking them into another room. After beating them up and asking where the gun is, they pretend to shoot the victim, telling them the next bullet is for real if they make a sound. With the rest of the group believing the person dead, they hope to extract an answer from the remaining victims. At what point does one snap and attack the police? They clearly would be justified, believing they are saving not only their own life but that of the remaining fellow hostages. That would be truly heroic. That some of them try to escape, one successfully, is also completely rational and should not be unexpected. Would I want to fight or flee in such a situation? What could I do against an army?

This is a war zone, where having black skin and no uniform makes one the enemy. It takes place as the Vietnam War starts to approach it's peak. In a way, it's bringing the war home, except it's exposing the racial lines that separate the haves from the have-nots.

Interestingly, the only ones who make any effort to save the hostages are members of the army. They have seen war. This is no elevation of power. They know the damages of war. There is a fellow soldier in the hotel. The police don't have any respect for that soldier. To them he must be a pimp. Philip and all the police officers with him in the hotel appear too young to have seen war previous to their careers with the police. This battle is an elevation of their power, to be able to experience war, but against fellow Americans. There is more and more an overlap of police and military, especially as war drags on and military veterans join the civilian police forces. This can lead to an increased militarization of the police, in the hiring of war veterans as well as the surplus weapons that find their way to police department. But while the Army usurps power enough to fee a few innocent people, they do nothing to stop the interrogation from continuing against those remaining in the hotel.

After one police officer shoots a hostage for real, Philip lets some of them leave, including the army veteran and Larry, but he tells them they cannot talk about this ever. He shoots anyone who does not agree to keep silent.

The film continues to show the aftermath of the events at the Algiers Motel as the police force attempts to cover them up. Melvin is retrieved from his day job as a witness. Now out of uniform, he is treated as a suspect rather than a colleague. The police jail Melvin, blaming him for their own crimes. Two of the police confess to their superiors and blame Philip for the murders. Phillip's interrogation is stopped by his union representative who asks, “What's the point? Coercive statements will be tossed.” Only against a fellow cop is an interrogation apparently illegal. What follows in court is predictable as the victims seem to be the ones on trial.

Despite watching this whole movie that shows the experience of black victims of the police in this riot, I have to ask if they ever get to tell their side of the story themselves. It is very much a white perspective, showing the crimes of the white police. It's a great story to witness, but was it written for me or for African-Americans who are still victimized by police? I feel this story may only be new for the white audiences.

This trailer is the property of Annapurna Pictures