[wpdevart_youtube]d5h7Kgo-zeI[/wpdevart_youtube]
****
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow (15, 120 mins)
A gritty and very timely account of the Detroit Rebellion race riots of 1967 that worryingly reflects the current political atmosphere in the USA. The cry of “black lives matter” still seems to fall on deaf ears. Zero Dark Thirty writer and director Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow turn their steely gaze on the tragic but little-known events surrounding that racial powder keg when three young African Americans were killed at the Algiers Motel. John Boyega, proving his acting chops post Star Wars, is a security guard caught up in the insanity as police and National Guardsmen patrol the Detroit streets during an enforced curfew. Shots are heard from the Algiers Motel, a group of kids messing about with a starting pistol, but the police response is brutal, Will Poulter’s Officer Krauss proving instrumental in the tragedy. It’s a little-known story, hard to believe in its twists and turns, told with dexterity and skill by director Bigelow, and Boyega and the cast are excellent.
Opens Aug 25