Detroit is a 2017 movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow (of Hurt Locker fame) that reconstructs elements of the 1967 12th Street Riot – or Rebellion if you prefer. It centers on the events at the Algiers Motel, where after suspicion of shooting at police, a dozen or so people who were staying at the motel were detained by the police, tortured, and several killed. The movie, while not a documentary, attempts to adhere as closely as possible to the factual record – which of course is incomplete and leaves a lot of room for the filmmakers.
It is not an easy movie to watch. The central, quite long, section focuses on the brutal treatment and torture of the motel residents by the police, and goes on painfully. There is a little background regarding those at the motel, and brief coverage of the eventual trial of the police officers most directly involved, and some interviews and subtitles at the end about what happened to some of the individuals. The movie is short on context with Detroit’s prior civil rights struggles, history of police brutality, and the pre-riot lives of Detroit’s black population are given short shrift. Despite this, both the combination of newsreel footage of the multiple day riot and its fairly seamless integration with the movie allows it to make its points powerfully and dramatically.
While the movie was made to honor the 50th anniversary of its events, the resonance with the current situation in US cities is depressingly powerful. It’s worth seeing, though gird yourself!
The movie also brings up a disturbing question of whether a white director – even one with the best intentions and sympathies – can make a movie that captures the internal context and history of an American minority population without leaving out so much context as to undercut its meaning and power to any who lack deep familiarity with it. The following article, while to me overstated, tackles this problem:
Detroit is a movie worth seeing, and one of those that say art can and perhaps should be disturbing.