Kathryn Bigelow directs this docudrama that depicts a racially charged police raid on an unlicensed club that would begin the infamous 12th Street Riots. Caught in the cross-hairs are a struggling R&B group called the Dramatics and two college co-eds visiting the club for weekend partying. The events unravel in heartbreaking and enraging ways. What would initially begin as a sadistic prank to ward off the co-mingling of the white females and black males leads to uncomprehensibly devastating results for all involved. A truly grim look at these events the picture veers far from sentimentality which keeps it at a clipped pace and allows for more structure surrounding the state of affairs amid the egregious hotel raid.
Review of Detroit
Detroit
(2017)
Harrowing and Uncompromising in Its Handling of Unimaginably Sensitive Material
22 March 2020