[C+Film Critic] Detroit: Looking at the suffering in the world, can you hear the people shouting?

Major 2021-12-29 08:01:38

The issue of race is the original sin and time bomb that lingers in the depths of American culture. Naturally, there are not too many discussions on this issue. Fifty years ago, the riots and riots in Detroit changed the destiny of a city and even a country forever. Fifty years later, the gaps and scars between the races are still difficult to heal, and the rise of extremism once again put the United States in a dire disaster.

At this time, it is particularly important to review the long course of the struggle for equal rights. In the past three years alone, there have been films like "Break Out of Compton", "The Birth of a Nation" and "Detroit" that portray major moments in American history from different time and space perspectives. The creator of it is eye-catching.

As the Oscar-winning director Catherine Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Ball’s third collaboration in 9 years ("The Hurt Locker" and "The Hunt for Bin Laden"), "Detroit" has maintained Catherine Bi Gro's nerve-tight narrative and video style. Many scenes, especially the street riots in the first act, have a strong sense of documentary under the shake of the camera-thanks in large part to Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne" "Captain Phillips" Barry Eclaud, the queen photographer of ), once again used his proficient hand-held photography technique after "The Hurt Locker" to add realism and shock to the film. Without the blessing of 60 frames, high-definition photography and IMAX technology, he proved that compared with hardware technology upgrades, the pursuit of artistic excellence is far more impressive and awe-inspiring, and he can also successfully turn the audience from passive Observers become active witnesses.

But this does not mean that the message conveyed by the movie itself is equally extraordinary. In fact, even though "Detroit" technically captures the chaos and sense of power of the riot well, and its bad influence on American society, the film still lacks complexity and only stays at arousing the audience's "resonance." "At the level of "empathy" and even the excitement of the community, there is a lack of in-depth and discussion of the historical reasons behind the incident.

It is undeniable that this film will have a greater influence among the local news industry and political activists, but it is difficult for ordinary viewers to gain a deeper understanding of history except for the outrage.

And this in itself is already a dangerous enough signal.

Similar to Nate Parker’s self-directed and self-performed "The Birth of a Nation" last year, "Detroit" is also adapted from real events, responding to racial violence incidents in the United States from a simple perspective. The film began with a portrait depiction of a street riot. Catherine Bigelow focused the core of the narrative on the incident that occurred in a motel in Algiers on July 25, 1967 during a series of "12th Street Riots" at the time. The incident resulted in the deaths of three black men, and seven black men and two white women were mercilessly beaten. Through the reappearance of this incident, to show the strong class antagonism and racial conflict. After the incident ended, the focus shifted to the reinvestigation of the incident itself. In this part, due to excessive reliance on newspaper clippings and real news fragments to provide a sense of solemnity and mission, it appears monotonous and lacks weight. In short, the 12th Street riots and the Detroit riots are just a microcosm of the Detroit area and the entire United States. The film does not reflect this kind of in-depth observation from a small perspective. Obviously, there are many tricks.

One of the reasons may be that under the starring complexion, the thinking and perspective of the white creators are the dominant. Of course, white filmmakers can also film racist stories (such as Quentin Tarantino in 2012's "The Freed Jiang Ge"), and there have also been excellent black biographical films shot by white directors, such as Stie "Purple" directed by Vin Spielberg in 1985. However, "Purple" is similar to "The Rescued Jiang Ge" in that it involves black filmmakers in the main creative process: For example, "Purple" is adapted from the works of black female novelist Alice Walker, as well as the famous producer Quincy. · Jones checks. But this sense of participation did not appear in "Detroit" at all: not only did the screenwriter lack the black perspective, but the main producer did not have the black participation. The imbalance in the creation caused by this comprehensive whiteness will obviously lead to a deviation in the understanding of the material, and then make the film different in terms of ideological expression.

Although as a female director, Catherine Bigelow has a unique American masculinity in his film works, which is especially evident in his early works. This heroic spirit also helped the first half of "Detroit" have a strong visual impact. But on the whole, the role of the movie seems a bit out of history and superficial, lacking in-depth understanding. More importantly, the film reduced the entire Detroit riot to a conflict, but unknowingly forgot to express it as a choice of the times: the race and class conflict in the film does not seem to be historical. This lack of a historical view made several leading actors show their due state and reflections, but they had a rigid feeling under the flawed overall setting. At the same time, the film did not provide a way to think about or resolve conflicts. The most affected is John Boyega, and the most outstanding one is Will Poulter. Both the role and the performance are the biggest highlights in the film, and it can even be said to be the best in his career. Performance.

In the Algiers motel incident, although there were no black women, the lack of black women in the movie was undoubtedly the biggest failure. Although "Detroit" spent a considerable amount of time depicting conflicts outside the motel, it was not interested in the historical status of black women's roleplay, nor did it give them the attention they deserved.

In general, Catherine Bigelow showed a complex state in "Detroit" in which it seems that water is not spilled, but errors are constantly being made. The actions and atmosphere shaping she is good at are obviously very effective, but similar to Christopher Nolan, she is unable to capture the rich emotional state and deeper social meaning of the characters, so it is difficult to capture the true sense of history. Compared with 2015's "Focus", "Detroit" does capture ethnic conflicts and civilian casualties, but at the same time it appears hollow, ignoring the judicial system, and the role of the city or society itself in the conflict.

Today, when black filmmakers have gradually improved their right to speak, we regret to see that although "Detroit" has a strong viewability, it has gone from a potential political thriller to a pure thriller, and even became the focus of "Straw Dog". Exploiting films of sensory experience have lost the historical specificity of characters, time and place. Apart from arousing people's anger, it is difficult to produce a more profound impact and meaning. The lack of historical perspective makes Detroit end up very close to an individual, but far away from the people and race.

This is a very important thing, and it is also a huge pity.

If you only portray disgusting acts of violence without criticizing the thinking behind them, how can you stop racism from continuing to divide the country and the people?

The answer is blowing in the wind.

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Extended Reading
  • Keeley 2021-12-29 08:01:38

    Both the narrative and photography are very good, but there are some problems with the script. The grand historical events are transformed into individuals and individual cases. However, in the end, the impact of the entire event is not mentioned, and there is a lack of reflection. But it's still a good movie, and it hasn't peeed for more than two hours.

  • Angie 2022-04-21 09:02:51

    To pave the way for this movie to watch thirteen movies in advance, expectations are too high, very disappointed, the narrative should refer to the city of God

Detroit quotes

  • Krauss: It's a war zone out there. They're destroying the city.

  • Krauss: I'm just gonna assume you're all criminals.