Movie Review - Monsters and Men

The Black Lives Matter movement began in the summer of 2013, immediately after the trial of the death of Trayvon Martin. The debut feature of writer-director Reinaldo Marcus Green whose older brother Rashaad Ernesto Green is also a director comes in the wake of the 5th anniversary of Black Lives Matter. The movement spotlights and protests police brutality, specifically the killing of unarmed black men, typically by shooting. However, one of the most notable cases was the death of Eric Garner in New York's Staten Island on July 17, 2014, which was done by choking. The Garner case seems to have inspired Green, not the choking aspect but the caught-on-video aspect. Garner's death was one of the first Black Lives Matter cases to be caught on video, but the person who recorded the video had arguably just as terrifying an experience.

Anthony Ramos who was one of the cast members of the Broadway musical Hamilton stars as Manny Ortega, a Hispanic guy living in Brooklyn who is a young husband and father. He doesn't have a car. He rides his bicycle or when he needs to go some place far, he'll take the subway, but he doesn't always have the money for it, so he has to beg for a swipe. He does eventually get a good job, but not before he records the police shooting of Darius Larson on his cell phone.

Darius Larson is the equivalent of Eric Garner and Manny becomes the equivalent to Ramsey Orta, the best friend to Eric Garner. Orta was the one who filmed Garner's death. Just as Orta's life was then tormented as a result of him posting the video, so does Manny's. Through Manny, we get a sense of the fear and paranoia that young men of color have with regard to the police, in this case the NYPD.

John David Washington (Ballers) also stars as Dennis Williams, a police officer working in the same area of Brooklyn where Manny lives. He wasn't there when the shooting happened, but he seems to be one of very few officers in the area who is African-American, which is a bonus and also a burden. As the opening scene reveals, he might be an officer but he has two identities. One identity is outside his uniform and one is inside his uniform. Each has its own challenges when relating to the people around him. Through Dennis, we see him struggle with these two identities.

The 34-year-old actor playing Dennis is the son of Oscar-winner Denzel Washington. John David has done other things, but this year is his most outstanding in terms of the cinematic landscape. The younger Washington in fact has appeared in three films in 2018 and in all three he's played police officers. The one that has gotten the most buzz was his role in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. In that film, Washington's character also dealt with dual identities, but here I felt the pull between those two identities, the anxiety and the alienation.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. (It Comes At Night and Mudbound) also stars as Zyrick Norris, a high school baseball player who is being recruited by scouts. In a way, he's also dealing with dual identities, which is emblematic of what many black people face. What Zyrick experiences is akin to the characters in Boyz N the Hood (1991). Instead of sports and college versus gang violence, here the dichotomy is sports and college versus engaging in politics and protest, giving us insight to what someone like Colin Kaepernick must have felt prior to his taking a knee.

Rated R for language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 36 mins.