Rent Monsters and Men (2018)

Monsters and Men review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

There’s no shortage of tales about urban turmoils of the betrayed black American male. The documentaries since the induction of President Trump have been numerous in relating the problems of the civil rights protests of the 20th century looking eerily familiar to the ones we have today. The most direct and frightening example can be seen in Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman which ends by skipping to real footage of the protests against white nationalists that claimed someone’s life.

Monsters and Men is a narrative that doesn’t quite try to draw as scathing a parallel, but it was released during the era of Trump’s rise as a chilling sign of things to come. This ensemble picture takes a more personal approach in following the stories of three black men who grow and react differently to a city where the law enforcement is not on their side. They also all have incentives provided them to keep them in their lane.

John David Washington plays Dennis who we first meet in the car. He is pulled over by a cop who doesn’t back off him until Dennis flashes his police badge, to which the officer apologizes and leaves. We can tell from this encounter this isn’t the first time this has happened and that he’s not just going to shake it off. This type of thing eats away at him, but he doesn’t want to rock the boat considering he has a family at home. Anthony Ramos plays Manny, a man struggling to hold a job with a family of his own at home, struggling not to shake things up with the troublesome people he hangs out with on the street. Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Zyrick, a high school kid moving onto the college with a sports scholarship to send him on a prosperous path out of the ghetto.

An inciting incident occurs where a black man is shot on the street. Manny is not only present to witness the shooting but records it as well. His wife urges him not to say anything for fear of Manny losing his job and corrupt cops threaten Manny not to reveal anything terrible about the cop in question. Dennis receives similar intimidation from the police and notable worries from his wife. But Zyrick’s worries come more from his father who wants his boy to stay straight and stay alive, but Zyrick is also young and emotional, more eager to do something. Shirking his graduation party, he decides to join protesters in the streets.

Monsters and Men tries to find something deeply unsettling in the nature of police brutality mounting with bubbling racism and political unrest. There’s an emotional tug of unease for those who continue on while others are dying. Zyrick’s dad doesn’t want his son to end up as a casualty on the street, but his recommendation is inaction for survival. There’s a very uncomfortable aspect to this picture where a naysayer of violated civil rights may remark, “hey, what’re you complaining about, you have it better than THOSE people.” And these characters do, considering we see how much Dennis and Manny love their families genuinely and how bright Zyrick’s future appears. But in living these safe lives, they must be required not to bat an eye at the injustices around them. And that’s something that eats away at the soul which Monsters and Men brings out beautifully in its somber showcase of how all is not well.