Image courtesy of A24.
We’ve seen military dramas aplenty, but there’s never been a film like this—and a film based on a true story, to boot.
Writer/director Elegance Bratton tells a powerful story with his debut fictional feature, “The Inspection,” based on his own experience of queer Black masculinity. It’s a boot camp story, one in which a young man tries to take hold of his future and win back his family, with harrowing consequences.
Ellis French (played by Jeremy Pope) was thrown out of his home when he was 16 by his homophobic mother Inez (Gabrielle Union). After nearly a decade of homelessness, French is determined to break the cycle and give himself opportunities—and maybe also to get back on his mother’s good side. He chooses to do this by joining the Marines. Little does he know that boot camp is fraught with even more discrimination, hate and fear.
At first, French tries to mimic the behavior of his fellow recruits. He even tells everyone his phone call home is to “his girl,” in a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” attempt to lay low. But quite quickly, his fellow recruits find him out, and French becomes the target of cruel and, often, dangerous hazing. And he’s not the only one targeted for being themselves. Fellow recruit Ismail (Eman Esfandi) is targeted for being Muslim.
Unit commander Laws (Bokeem Woodbine) is the main driver of discrimination. While some of the recruits push each other around and try to put others down to lift themselves up, this abuse, coming from a commander, is downright terrifying—more than you would expect at even a military boot camp. On the other end of the scale, drill Sgt. Rosales (Raúl Castillo) works to build the recruits up, focusing particularly on French. Strangely enough, both officers claim that their actions are to fine-tune the recruits to be the best Marines they can be.
The added layers of discrimination make it even more difficult to watch the usual abuse seen in boot camp stories, but the character arcs do start coming around. We slowly watch the team of recruits start to look out for each other and become a team.
Pope gives a spectacular, nuanced performance, as do Woodbine and Castillo. Each character leaps past the boundaries of two-dimensional stereotypes. And Union’s performance is a sight to behold. She does a stunning job of portraying a character with too much to hold onto but so little ground to stand on. And Bratton’s autobiographical touch to the film makes the story that much more vibrant, making “The Inspection” stand out not only from the films of its genre, but from any film across the board.
Don’t miss “The Inspection,” playing at Midtown Cinema this December.
Midtown Cinema is located at 250 Reily St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.midtowncinema.com.
December Events At Midtown Cinema
Saturday Morning Cartoons
Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m.
National Theatre Live presents
“Much Ado About Nothing”
Sunday, Dec. 4 at 5 p.m.
Down in Front! riffs on
“Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964)
Friday, Dec. 9 at 9:30 p.m.
3rd in the Burg Movie Night presents
“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989)
Friday, Dec. 16 at 9:30 p.m.
Special Holiday Screenings
“Home Alone” (1990)
Saturday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. & 9 p.m.
“White Christmas” (1954)
Sunday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
“Elf” (2003)
Sunday, Dec. 18 at 6 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
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