If you’ve been looking forward to director Kathryn Bigelow’s gritty take on the 1967 Detroit riots (and more specifically the Algiers Motel incident, as it’s known), you’re probably better off saving your money (and time). Friend of The Outline Angelica Jade Bastién penned a scathing, insightful review of the film for RogerEbert.com that puts a particular and bright light on the shortcomings of Bigelow’s efforts. A few choice passages:
Watching “Detroit,” the latest film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and penned by Mark Boal, I hit a breaking point I didn’t realize I had. I was disturbed so deeply by what I witnessed that I left the theater afterward in tears.
It wasn’t the relentless violence inflicted upon black bodies or the fiery devastation of the riots ripping apart Detroit but the emptiness behind these moments that got under my skin.
“Detroit” is a hollow spectacle, displaying rank racism and countless deaths that has nothing to say about race, the justice system, police brutality, or the city that gives it its title.
Given how nothing has really changed in America for black folks, “Detroit” had the potential to be a valuable, even powerful, piece of art that could speak truth to power. But it lacks the authenticity necessary for that to be a reality.
Watching “Detroit,” I didn’t see a period drama, but a horror film. The horror of white filmmakers taking on black history and the violence perpetuated upon black bodies with an unwavering eye yet nothing to say.
Do yourself a favor and read the entire review — a harsh indictment of the tone deaf work, and a sterling example of why Bastién is one of the smartest voices in pop-culture critique.
