Filmed in 2017, in African American communities in Mississippi and Louisiana shaken by a series of murders, beauty and chaos collide in this documentary by Roberto Minervini. Shot in stark black and white, the film bears witness to the lives of individuals touched by the long-simmering savagery on the streets. The characters include a pair of young brothers, a middle-aged woman struggling to keep a business afloat and a team who have united, in the face of police indifference, to protect people and investigate the endemic racially charged violence.
Minervini’s is a camera that doesn’t tend to look away from the very worst moments, but even so, there are scenes here, in which he delves into the collective pain of the community, that make for more uncomfortable viewing than usual.
