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Dec 02, 2018ABou1391 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Liked the fact that this movie didn't absolve the Detroit police department, the military, or the national guard. Too often films about the armed institutions of the state, even films made by black directors (*cough* Black Klansman *cough*), are quick to portray those institutions as benevolent, and portray the perpetrators of violence within those institutions as "bad apples." "Detroit" doesn't shy away from the fact of state institutional violence. It shows the harsh reality of how racist state power functioned in the context of the 1967 riot and for that I'm actually grateful. Too often marginalized peoples are gas-lighted into believing that either the violence they experience isn't real, and/or that the state is benevolent actor and not an active participant in the violence they experience. This film shines a light on exactly the formal and informal ways this violence functions. That said, it's a real heavy film. The racist and misogynistic violence of this film is in full focus and that can be hard to watch.