Controversial US director Nate Parker said on Monday that he trusts his convincing new film about police brutality against dark men will help spare lives.
His film “American Skin” received an eight-minute standing ovation after it premiered at the Venice film festival.
The movie is about a black Iraq war veteran, whose 14-year-old son is killed by police when they stop their car in a wealthy white area. It documents a blistering incrimination of institutional racism.
It climaxes in the avenging father taking his son’s killer hostage and putting him, and racist police attitudes, on trial after storming into his local precinct.
Controversial Black Lives Matter film hailed at the Venice
Parker said that he hopes his film will ignite a debate within US police forces about the approach they have towards black people.
“This experience is all too common in America. I am hopeful that it can resonate and people will hopefully be moved into action.
“Our mantra took a beat [stop and think] and save alive. We can make a film that sparks not only conversation but also a real action. If we can even save one life… this film will be the most remarkable thing we have ever done,” he added.
The Hollywood Reporter hailed its importance to the “open wound of the Black Lives Matter movement” while condemning it as a “well-intentioned but heavy-handed bid to open a dialogue between law enforcement and African American communities oppressed by too many unjustified police shootings.”
Lee said he hoped the low-budget feature, shot on a “hope and a prayer” in April, will get a full release in the States. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the jury is still out on that.
“The movie addresses a topic of searing importance. What it will come down to is whether Parker is considered worthy of a second chance,” said its chief critic Todd McCarthy.
