| Simply depicting the events that led to the death of a former marine leaves audiences to draw their own parallels with the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor The first word that would pop into your brain to describe this drama, based on actual events, is “timely”. But, tragically, that means little given the regularity with which people die at the hands of US police, either by accident or design. The killing at the centre of director David Midell’s almost unbearably tense film happened in White Plains, NY, in 2011. However, as there are only audio recordings, forensic reports and witness statements to document what happened, Chamberlain’s death didn’t capture the public imagination in the same way that George Floyd’s or Breonna Taylor’s did in 2020, for example. Viewers might care to discuss the difference between such cases’ circumstances and the times in which they happened, but one of the film’s more audacious qualities is that it just leaves such debate to us, choosing to simply depict the events as gathered from investigators and witnesses. It’s probably best absorbed by knowing as little about the story as possible, other than that Chamberlain (played with exceptional skill by Frankie Faison) was a 68-year-old African American former marine with a heart condition and mental health issues. Chamberlain accidentally pressed his health alarm in the middle of the night, which set in motion a fatal encounter with police. Continue reading... |
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