Kathryn Bigelow

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Shortly after midnight on June 25, 1967, shots were heard outside of the Algiers Motel in Detroit, Michigan. A group of state and local policemen and National Guardsmen entered the motel looking for an alleged sniper. The night ended with three black teenagers dead and nine others brutally beaten. The horrific incident, which took place during the Detroit riot, is the focus of Kathryn Bigelow’s latest examination of American history. An excellent piece of powerful, dramatic filmmaking, Detroit is one of the most harrowing films you’ll see this year with a wealth of charged performances. But Bigelow’s film, written by Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker), suffers from too broad a title – this movie should more accurately be titled The Algiers Motel – and thus too broad a scope.

The final spot for Kathryn Bigelow’s new historical drama pulls no punches.

It’s a tableau with which anyone who watches the news is all too familiar: police station, pair of white interrogators, terrified-looking black man. But it’s not from last night’s 10 o’clock broadcast — the year is 1967, and that’s Star Wars star John Boyega in the chair, fielding aggressive and leading questions from the stern officers. It’s a tense scene bordering on the sickening, and the trailer for Kathryn Bigelow’s supercharged period piece Detroit only get more brutal from there.

Every major historical movie comes with a choice. Do you go seek the true story behind the film’s events in an attempt to be well-read prior to its release? Or do you embrace your ignorance  —  albeit temporarily  —  in order to ensure the sanctity of the cinematic experience? It isn’t difficult to find in-depth literature about the film; Wayne State University Press recently re-released The Detroit Riot of 1967, a first-hand account by the former aide to the Detroit police commissioner who now serves as the Dean of Public Affairs at the University of Michigan. In many ways, Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit seems to be setting a historical precedent for the abuse of power stories we see in every city across America.

The violence and chaos of the Detroit riots in the summer of 1967 began early on Sunday, July 23 when the police raided a local bar. It incited five long days of police brutality that ended in 43 deaths. But there was one infamous and tragic episode during those five days that left three black teenagers dead.

There’s something to be said about an outsider telling a true story about another culture. More often it’s a problem when a filmmaker swoops in to depict another culture’s history – it’s no news Hollywood has a major whitewashing problem and a need to diversify storytelling on and off screen. But if an international filmmaker takes on a piece of American history, especially history that’s particularly iconic or traumatic, that outsider quality can lend to something surprising and deeply moving. That’s what happened with Jackie, when Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain approached the story of the former First Lady from the outside in. It allowed the director to re-examine a famous piece of history, to strip away sentimentality and nostalgia and get at something a little deeper.

Movie fans have long been enamored with Annapurna Pictures, the production company of billionaire heiress and noted cinephile Megan Ellison. Under her careful guidance, Annapurna has become a home for visionary filmmakers, producing films by writer-directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson, David O. Russell, Richard Linklater, Spike Jonze, and Harmony Korine. And with a growing stable of respected filmmakers and award-winning movies, it was only a matter of time before Ellison and company expanded into the distribution world as well.