Blindspotting

Dir: Carlos López Estrada

2018

*****

There have been quite a few (but not enough) films about racism and police violence over the last few years. I thought Dear White People was an original and refreshing look at the subject but I felt The Hate U Give was somewhat contrived. Fruitvale Station dealt with a real life shooting excellently and BlacKKKlansman was a different kind of masterpiece entirely. Blindspotting however is the first film of this kind, I believe, to hit that higher note. I think The Hate U Give is fine for kids and Dear White People is good for teens and those in their early twenties. Fruitvale Station is a well crafted reconstruction of real events and BlacKKKlansman uses comedy, visual pop and a heavily stylized look to convey its serious message but Blindspotting is direct and utterly captivating. I have never lived in Oakland, I haven’t even been there and I don’t know anyone who has, and yet, I understood the two lead characters. Their story is universal in many ways, its concentrated in Oakland, but it happens all over. No, I’ve never been the victim of racism and British police don’t go around shooting people but I understand both men’s frustrations and anxiety. We’re worlds apart but I still connected with them. The film stars starring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal childhood friends in real-life, who wrote the screenplay in the mid-2000s, initially to speak for the city of Oakland which they felt was often misrepresented in film. After years of delays, the pair's schedules finally allowed them to make the film. It’s clear that time only added to their performance, story and script. Diggs plays Collin Hoskins, a convicted felon with just three days left of his probation. His best friend Collin (Casal) is a liability. Collin and Miles work for a moving company located in Oakland, a city in the Bay Area. One night while waiting for a red light, Collin witnesses a white police officer (Ethan Embry) gun down a black civilian. As Collin is haunted by the incident, he begins to have nightmares and experiences hallucinations. At the same time, Miles becomes distraught by the gentrification of Oakland, and a resulting sense of loss of identity, home, and belonging. The story is very simple really, the film is ultimately about the characters and representation. As the pair converse in lengthy dialogue little aspects of Oakland make themselves known. Miles purchases a gun from a friend on the basis of self-protection, an action which makes Collin nervous. As Miles continues to display erratic behavior, Collin's ex-girlfriend Val (Janina Gavankar) warns Collin of the dangers that may come from a continued friendship with Miles. Later that evening while having dinner, Miles' gun accidentally ends up in the hands of his young son Sean, an incident which horrifies Sean's mother Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones), forcing both Collin and Miles to leave the house. The pair then attend a party that they had repeatedly agreed not to attend throughout the film. There, an agitated Miles assaults a black man who misinterpreted Miles' persona as cultural appropriation, leading to a fight between the two. Miles uses his gun to terrorize the party guests before being stopped by Collin. In an explosive argument, Collin criticizes Miles for his reckless behavior and the trouble it keeps causing him. This powerful stuff, as Miles persona and the subject of cultural appropriation had clearly never come up in conversation before and it is an interesting subject. There are white kids who try to sound black, but Miles’ argument was that he was the only white kid in the neighbourhood and that is who he is. The subjects of identity and misinterpretation, have never quite been tackled from a 30-something point of view. If they have it is usually involving a middleclass white family, with a good jobs, two or three kids and a nice house with a white picket fence. When you do the maths with most films you realise that the dad of the house is always ten years older than the mum and the mum must have had her children when she turned twenty. Sure, this happens, but most of us these days don’t have nice houses, great jobs or kids in our late thirties and most couples are the same age. I know hundreds of Collins, they’re not from Oakland but it’s all relative. My neighbourhood isn’t the same, things I like have been taken over by hipsters and the world is slowly going mad. I totally expected Miles to get Colin in so much trouble that he would get arrested in the final minutes of his probation, but no. His probation is now over, but Collin continues to feel mentally troubled by the murder he saw. As they are finishing a moving job, the house is revealed to be that of Officer Molina, the same officer whom Collin witnessed gunning down a black man a few days earlier. Colin and Miles are moving out belongings of Officer Molina’s wife and child who are clearly leaving him. Just when you think the film had already reached its crescendo, Collin confronts the officer at gun point and criticizes the relationship between the police and black America. Collin had been developing his rapping technique throughout the film and in this one scene he suddenly masters it and works out exactly what he wants to say. It’s one of those moments that make the hairs on the back of your neck stick up. Daveed Diggs has referred to rapping as a heightened language, which I totally agree with – and it’s hard not to after that scene. There is a Shakespearean quality to the films, not just in speech but also in structure. I’m not sure whether misdirection was intended but it was refreshing when the plot went in a different direction than what one would usually expect. It has been a while since I’ve been excited by a little indie that came out of nowhere. It flew under the radar but effected everyone who saw it and its become one of those word of mouth successes. It’s intelligent, surprising, refreshing, engaging and timely. If that isn’t enough, it also features a Wayne Knight cameo.