An incredible film that is about so much more than just NWA and succeeds on all levels

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 2015)

Brought up in the UK in place about as far removed from Compton as The Moon NWA was a band that I could get into but not really fully appreciate the emotion and the anger behind the lyrics - that was until 'Boys in the Hood' came out. That movie brought a reality to foreign shores that gave us an insight into the birth place of this music. Now Straight Outta Compton gives you the story behind that music. I'll say out and out this is a MUST SEE SUPERB FILM which for me will rank as one of the most important films of all time. It probably wouldn't do the Police of the USA any harm if they sat and watched it then they actually might have a grasp of how they make people feel and in the light of the wave of Police brutality in America never has such a film been more relevant.
The film itself charts the rise and fall of the group from their humble beginnings of sleeping out of cars and recording tracks in friends garages through to their internal beefs, eventual break up and the paths leading to the potential reunion that was cut short by the death of Eric Wright from HIV.
So why is it so good? Well first off the performances of all the cast without exception incredibly well pitched. O'Shea Jackson as Ice Cube shows he can already hold his own against his father in his very first acting role while Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell play Dr.Dre and Easy E with a great deal of poise and sensitivity portraying them as flawed human beings and relating for me the films main theme - Division will always conqueror. Paul Giamatti brings a well rounded performance as the groups manager making it hard for you not to totally dislike him and so it should be.
But its not just the acting - While telling the story of one of the most influential Rap groups of all time the film manages to make two very powerful statements -
1) The fact that the issues the film raises about how a Police Force treats its citizens are even more relevant now than they were then. Rodney King was beaten some years after NWA was formed and what happened to him only reinforced the anger that NWA was articulating in their lyrics. A topic which middle class white America choose not to believe until they saw that video. Now this film serves the same purpose - It underscores what is happening in America now and the need more than ever for it to be addressed. The film may not have intended this but it achieves it 110%
2) The internal conflicts in the black music industry are highlighted so successfully that it makes you realise how much such feuds only serve the cause of those who want to keep people in their place. The futility of being so divided all the time which ultimately comes from greed or in the cases of some an additional sadistic mentality. (Surge Knight) The divisions here broke friendships some of which could never be completely repaired. The death of Eric Wright was something that didn't get as much press in the UK as it did in the states and I was probably only more aware of it at the time because of my interest in NWA and having lost my own cousin to HIV a few years earlier. The film underlines the need within the black music community for artists to be more mutually supportive of each others work regardless of which coast their from and what neighbourhood they were born in.
This film should be successful for all the right reasons and while it might not be 100% accurate for it to contain so much power in a film of two hours twenty minutes is nothing short of superb. It will of course be criminally overlooked at the Oscars I am sure. The film will serve as the perfect companion to Filmmaker Dylan Avery's documentary about Police corruption when it is released. I have no doubt what so ever that Eric Wright would be incredibly proud of all involved. This is the film that not only NWA deserve but all the people who ever grew up in Compton too.