Film review: ‘THE INSPECTION’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Like the prison movie, the military boot camp film is a pretty clichéd genre. There’s the sadistic drill sergeant, the meathead bully recruit, the strange military rituals and marching sing-alongs. We’ve seen it many times in movies but if done well it’s still fertile ground for a compelling drama. The Inspection, which is based on the experiences of photographer and filmmaker Elegance Bratton, indulges most of the cliches and suffers from a few script issues but still emerges as a solid and at times moving biopic.
Written and directed by Bratton, the film focuses on a young man named Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) who appears lost in the world. As a gay black man, he faces twin prejudices although surprisingly, the most venomous abuse comes from his deeply religious, extremely homophobic prison guard mother (Gabrielle Union). Living in a homeless shelter, Ellis decides his only chance for a stable and meaningful life will be to join the marines. His mother endorses this decision bizarrely thinking it will make a heterosexual of him. As a gay man in the military, though, an already brutal marine recruitment program is especially unforgiving. Shunned, verbally abused, at one time bashed by the platoon’s alpha male recruits and nearly killed by the mocking and malevolent drill sergeant (Bokeem Woodbine) Ellis is frequently on the verge of quitting but is determined to overcome the obstacles placed in his path.
Due to some fine performances, the film just manages to rise above the genre’s extreme familiarity. Jeremy Pope, in only his third film, is excellent giving Ellis compassion and believable inner strength making him someone about whom we genuinely care. Among the rest of the cast, Bokeem Woodbine is typically magnetic as the drill sergeant. He’s genuinely intimidating and at times a craven bastard but he also shows flashes of insight and introspection. His narrative arc seems to have been cut a little short, though and he doesn’t feature as much in the film’s latter stages as we might expect.
The tricky balancing act for a film like this is depicting the ugliness of Ellis’ experiences while still holding the military as a worthy institution and career. Unlike Full Metal Jacket, which showed miliary training as the disturbing process of dehumanisation, The Inspection adds the caveat that bootcamp and its trainers are there to break people down and leave only the most resilient for the battlefield. Whether this is a legitimate approach is a matter for military experts and psychologists to debate but there’s an odd feeling of contradiction here as Ellis commits himself to a training system largely based around abuse, especially of someone like himself.
Bratton, for the most part, however, plays down military or US triumphalism, this is not Heartbreak Ridge. Accordingly, he films in dour hues often with a gauzy grey look and sets the tone with a moody score and a minimum of military marching bands.
Elegance Bratton has clearly had a remarkable life and while marine training is interesting subject matter, we’re still left with a limited film that only scratches the surface of his character. Hopefully, we’ll one day see a broader exploration of his fascinating life.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Drama/ Biopic.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Elegance Bratton.
Release date: 4th May 2023.
Running time: 95 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.