Kathryn Bigelow has a knack for creating gripping films that are based off of real life facts and occurrences. Her latest vision, Detroit, is based upon a specific event that happened in 1976 during the 12th Street riots. The incident in question happened at the Algiers Motel, where three young African-American men were shot dead by police officers. The story is an emotionally gripping tale of what went on that night between the task force that had been assigned to check out the Algiers Motel and those that were inside having a good time. No doubt there will be a definite lean to the movie showing the perspective of one side in a better light than the other. But that is a part of what Bigelow is hoping considering how history played out during this incident.
Here are a few things that a lot of people don’t know about the Algiers Incident.
5. The Algiers Incident happened at the same time as the 12th Street Riots.
On the same night that a riot was breaking out in Detroit officers thought they heard a gunshot coming from the Algiers Hotel. They stormed the hotel in search of the shooter, thinking that someone had a pistol of some sort and had been firing it off towards police officers. Unfortunately for the men inside there were two white women partying with them and this only helped to make things worse since racial tensions in the city were continually growing worse up to this point.
4. 3 unarmed African-American teens were killed in the incident after being suspected of being snipers.
Reports said there were no actual weapons found at the scene. The thought was that a starter pistol had fired the shot that officers heard. while the film makers aren’t really trying to make people feel guilty about this incident they are trying to play on empathy to get people to understand that racism hasn’t changed much in the last fifty years.
3. No one was charged with the death of the first teen killed in the incident.
Carl Cooper was shot just inside the door of the Algiers Hotel. No one was ever convicted of his murder however since there was no evidence, and obviously no one owned up to the fact. This was the landscape of Detroit back in those days, that a young man could be gunned down without a second thought and no one would pay for it.
2. Melvin Dismukes was present during the incident and still lives with it 50 years later.
Dismukes reportedly assaulted someone with a club during the raid but was found not guilty. He goes on to state that he was trying to calm the situation down, but things had already gone too far. To this day he states that he is uneasy with who he meets and speaks to. After the Algiers incident a lot of people turned on him and he has to be careful of what he says.
1. Bigelow is hoping that this film will spark dialogue about the subject.
Kathryn Bigelow is first and foremost a storyteller. She knows how to take hold of a serious, down to earth tale and give it a proper venue and voice without too much embellishment. Her hope with this film is that people find the subject both interesting and worth talking about.
Detroit might cover a controversial period in America’s history, but Bigelow has done well in capturing it without destroying the memory.
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