A few hours ago, I went to the Landmark Theatres in west Los Angeles to attend a Q&A screening for the Kathryn Bigelow film Detroit. This is the second time I saw the movie (I watched it on opening weekend), and needless to say, it's a powerful film...especially in today's divisive atmosphere here in America. On hand to answer audience questions were actors Will Poulter, John Boyega, Tyler James Williams and Laz Alonso. During the Q&A, Boyega and Alonso mentioned how it was like to meet the actual individuals they portrayed on screen (Boyega played Melvin Dismukes, who was a security guard during the 1967 Detroit riots, while Alonzo portrayed congressman John Conyers). Will Poulter, unsurprisingly, didn't meet the officer—actually, it's officers—whose character, Krauss, was based off of. According to Poulter, most of these people haven't been seen or heard from since. Not a shock, considering that these cops should never show their faces in public again if the movie was even half as accurate as it was in portraying the disturbing events at the Algiers Motel on July 25-26, 1967.
Here's hoping that Detroit gets some recognition when the Oscar nominations are announced next January. It would be pretty disappointing, and ironic, if the #OscarsSoWhite controversy brews online again if a movie about racial injustice doesn't receive any major accolades from the Academy on January 23, 2018. That is all.
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