Bury the rag deep in your face for now's the time for your tears

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2018)

1967. The police and black inhabitants of Detroit seem perpetually in a state of conflict, largely due to the police's biased, heavy-handed attitude towards African-Americans. This comes to a head when the police raid an unlicensed black club, causing the local residents to riot. The State Police and National Guard are called in and Detroit starts to resemble a war zone. On a fateful night, the local police round up some suspects at the Algiers Motel in connection with (what they believe is) sniper fire. The police handling of the situation soon gets out of hand.
A thought-provoking drama, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and based on a true story. Shows quite well how police can abuse their power and not treat citizens equally, fairly or civilly. A great exposition of police brutality and racial prejudice (and, to a degree, injustice - more about that later).
However, not perfect. The scenes inside the Algiers Motel are drawn out to the nth degree. The point of the scenes was made quite quickly and drawing it out just seemed like it was drawn out for the sake of it. It became rather cartoony after a while, especially the way the cops behaved.
All the characters also seem so one-dimensional, either being "good guys" or "bad guys", rather than having some characters who are just going about their jobs and lives. Some of this seems to be Bigelow trying to balance the actions of some individuals with those of others within the same group, as is to say, "Hey, they're not all like that". For example, after escaping the Algiers Motel a black man is confronted by a police officer who turns out to be helpful and nice - too nice.
With less time spent on the incident and more on the court case we could have had an incredibly powerful drama on injustice (in addition to covering the themes of racial prejudice and police brutality). Instead the injustice seems like an after-thought, with the police brutality the main focus. It would also have made for a better-paced movie - instead of the slow-fast-slowish we ended with.