I Saw THE INSPECTION

 "You really think we can turn that faggot into a monster?" ~ from THE INSPECTION

Last week, I posted a piece about the LGBTQ story in the new indie movie, THE INSPECTION. The film was inspired by the life of its director and writer, Elegance Bratton. In addition to that, an openly queer Black actor is playing a Black queer character based on the life of its Black queer director/writer. That's some history.

Two-time Tony nominee, Jeremy Pope, plays Ellis French. Ellis is a homeless young man who joins the Marines. Enduring and surviving the brutality of boot camp, Ellis finds significance and his own voice. I saw THE INSPECTION. Wow. What a strong film and what equally strong performances from Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union who plays Ellis' mother.

The story starts in Trenton, New Jersey in 2005. Ellis lives on his own because his mother kicked him out of the house because he was gay. She feels he ruined her dreams for his life. As the film opens, he goes to see her because he needs his birth certificate to fill out forms for Marine recruitment. She lets him in, however she neither hugs nor kisses him. She's cooking but doesn't offer him anything to eat or drink. Their relationship is quite frayed. She scoffs at his goal, believing that the Marines is a bastion of heterosexuality. She gives her son his birth certificate. He leaves and boards a bus to start a military life.

Director/writer Bratton avoids the unnecessary homoeroticism veteran filmmakers have inserted into films focused on men in all-male groups. Think of the shirtless, slow motion military volleyball games in Tony Scott's TOP GUN. Think of the prison shower scenes Oliver Stone wrote into MIDNIGHT EXPRESS and the explicit NFL locker room scenes he directed in ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. There are brief scenes of same-sex attraction in THE INSPECTION but they occur in Ellis' mind. Sort of a break from the blistering treatment he receives in boot camp. It's hell at first, but brotherhood will be achieved.

We see him survive, grow and evolve into a Marine. We wonder if his mother will grow and evolve too in her feelings towards him.

This was not an easy movie to make. It was shot in Jackson, Mississippi in 100+ degree summer heat. And it was shot in 19 days. The hard work paid off. In Pope's performance, we see Ellis transform not only in his uniform, but in the looks behind his eyes and in his physicality. Notice his body language in his encounter with his mother at the beginning of the story and later on after he's passed inspection.

As for gorgeous Gabrielle Union, who is one of the film's executive producers, this supporting role is one of the meatiest dramatic roles she's ever had in a film and she totally delivers. I'd give Gabrielle Union an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. There's also mighty fine work from Bokeem Woodbine as the hard-ass drill master and Raul Castillo as supportive Rosales. Director/writer Elegance Bratton is a fan of cable's TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and said that the 1950s remake of IMITATION OF LIFE inspired a tone in his film -- especially scenes with Black actress Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner (as the daughter passing for white) in the 1959 Douglas Sirk film.

THE INSPECTION is a film worth seeing.