From NYFF: ‘Red, White and Blue’ is a Powerful Introspection

It’s not as euphoric as “Lovers Rock” or as exciting as “Mangrove,” but director Steve McQueen's “Red, White and Blue” is a cogent, politically charged meditation on structural racism. Along with “Lovers Rock” and “Mangrove,” “Red, White and Blue” is part of McQueen’s anthology “Small Axe” — a series of five biographical films that capture the West Indian experience in Britain from the sixties to the eighties. “Red, White and Blue” is a key entry in that series: It asks timely questions on police brutality, delivers a balanced well paced plot, and features a strong lead performance from John Boyega.

In his latest film, McQueen asks two central questions: Is police brutality the symptom of a few bad eggs or a deeper systemic rot? And can you truly challenge that system by playing the inside game? Leroy Logan (Boyega) is a forensic scientist, a position his father — who invested in his education — is extremely proud of. But to everyone’s surprise, Leroy takes a “demotion” and enlists in the police in an attempt to change the law enforcement system from within.

Soon, Leroy finds himself confronted with the brutal, but perhaps unsurprising, reality that changing a bigoted, predominantly white institution from the inside is an excruciating task that leaves a lasting mental toll. Despite leading the rest of the other cadets in training, Leroy is one of the few officers rejected for a promotion. At the same time, he starts finding that members of the West Indian community begin alienating him as a “traitor.” It’s a situation that’s further complicated when Leroy’s father, a victim of police brutality, is denied a day in court to clear his name. “Red, White and Blue” depicts Leroy’s struggles as he must weigh his sense of duty in bringing justice to his community against the turmoil of fighting an upstream battle against a bitterly entrenched system.

Boyega (“Attack the Block” and Disney’s “Star Wars” sequel trilogy) delivers a dynamic performance in the challenging lead role: He’s likable and relatable, but also calculating when his peers doubt him, and explosive when they endanger him. On the shoulders of his performance, “Red, White and Blue” deftly navigates huge shifts in tone from a fuzzy nostalgia for the eighties to the inescapable tension of race relations.

McQueen lands his social commentary much more effectively in “Red, White and Blue” than in “Mangrove,” which also explored structural racism in the law enforcement system. This is largely because “Red, White and Blue” is not as exposition-heavy and doesn’t juggle as many main characters, allowing McQueen to give the audience breathers during which they can better internalize the drama on screen. This takes the form of an easy ‘80s soundtrack and an occasionally dormant camera, which sits in the corner of a room or in the backseat of a car as a passive observer — content with letting audiences discover the drama of the film themselves.

However, for all the thematic questions McQueen raises and all the character arcs the film develops, “Red, White and Blue” doesn’t devote much time for closure. This is particularly disappointing because towards the end of the film, McQueen indulged in multiple, explosive confrontations that teetered on melodrama. But leaving audiences without much in the way of payoffs to these setups, McQueen leaves those scenes of escalation feeling empty — nothing more than a hollow burst of shouting that doesn’t significantly move the plot or its characters.

McQueen leaves audiences wanting more, but perhaps that’s the effect the acclaimed filmmaker sought to achieve — to leave audiences with a feeling of unsettled eeriness because the call to justice that brought Leroy Logan to action 40 years ago remains unanswered today. In light of police brutality in the United States and around the Western world, “Red, White and Blue” is a stirring call to confront the broken pieces of the law enforcement system.

“Red, White and Blue” premiered at the New York Film Festival on Oct. 3 and will be released on Amazon Prime Video on Dec. 18.

—Staff writer Lanz Aaron G. Tan can be reached at lanzaaron.tan@thecrimson.com and on Twitter @LanzAaronGTan1.