Police brutality is a topic that never seems to leave the news. There are too many cases, too many stories from across the country that point to further abuse of state-sanctioned power. Some headlines attract national attention, even those that don't will leave marks on the community where it happened. In “Power,” documentary filmmaker Yance Ford pauses in today's top news stories to reflect for a moment and ask: How did we get here?
Ford, who investigated the murder of his brother in the painfully personal "Strong Island," takes a much more detached approach than in his previous film. This time he is offscreen, but very present, narrating the journey through this multifaceted topic. As a parade of academics, journalists and police officers past and present unravel the images that have become all too familiar, Ford uses their voices to illustrate how deeply rooted the problem is in our nation, tracing the origins of policing back to XIX century. century when the military oversaw the indigenous population for the sake of white settlers, slave patrols monitored the movement of blacks, and proxy groups fought striking lower-class workers.
Director: Yance FordWriters: Yance FordIan OldsStars: Charlie Adams, Baher Azmy, Paul Butler
The documentary goes on to show the evolution of policing, how wartime influenced police tactics, how after the end of slavery the Black Codes gave white citizens the power to arrest their black neighbors, all these little tangents. that led to where we are today. Through direct-to-camera interviews, professors explore the various philosophical and sociological reasons why black communities were treated differently and how that treatment was justified, how white privilege played a role in allowing any populations once persecuted, like the Irish and Italian Americans, had the opportunity to rise in the world. social hierarchy by joining the ranks of those who once terrorized their communities, the effect of using violence as a tool of control and how it leads to fascism that can threaten our democracy.
In addition to the numerous academics and experts interviewed, Ford follows Charlie Adams, a black member of the Minnesota police force who struggles with the shortcomings of his profession and is affected by the violence he has witnessed in the line of work. he. He adds a personal perspective that I haven't seen anywhere else on this topic. Adams offers a measured testimony, veering between emotional stories of young children losing their lives to gun violence and matter-of-factly explaining the history of his line of work. Through Adams, we get a firsthand account of how the justice system is failing Black children and how supporting other Black officers on the force has cost him professionally. He recognizes that things need to change, but remains in the line of duty, perhaps hoping to see some of those changes.
Throughout “Power,” Ford asks thought-provoking questions of his audience and even some of the expert speakers. When one of the speakers declares that "we" allowed the police to get away with brutality, Ford responds and asks who "we" is referring to. Our current selves did not approve of centuries of inequality, it is something we have inherited. Elsewhere, Ford blurs or erases some of the most fatal police footage. Is it necessary to see the moment of death to believe it? At another point, it features a clip of a 1950s-style police officer hugging his family while audio of a police brutality incident plays in the background, creating a jarring sense of cognitive dissonance between the images we've seen of the police in the media. versus images of brutality that the police would prefer the public not to see.
The documentary is rich with archival material that matches the speakers' ideas, highlighting their findings and supporting their research. Ford shows clips of propaganda like “The Police Film,” narrated by Ben Gazzara, and footage of the now-public riot suppression drills that form the basis of the equally chilling documentary “Riotsville, U.S.A.” It reaches back to Spanish-American War photographs, silent films about criminals, and countless newsreels to show the deep roots of this topic. Ford also brings images of today's surveillance, the haunting vision of the “eye in the sky” allowing even more unlimited access to private citizens, signaling the future of surveillance.
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