5/5
Steve McQueen’s Red, White and Blue is the third installment in his Small Axe anthology, and while this is a much quieter and more nuanced piece than the previous two installments, there is something so profoundly sad and heartbreaking in the film’s quiet resignation. The story’s two central characters are dedicated to fighting against injustice, but both come face-to-face with the wearying indifference and apathy, the outright hostility and racism of those in positions of authority, and the distrust of the greater community. A lesser film would show Leroy Logan, the real-life police officer at the center of the narrative, either fixing the broken system or being ground down by the racism he experiences on a daily basis. But once again, we see that McQueen is such a skilled filmmaker, forcing us to sit with the tension, asking us whether fundamentally broken, flawed, and racist systems can be changed from the inside. In the face of such overwhelming opposition, is it better to stay and try to make incremental changes – even in the face of dehumanizing treatment by colleagues – or is it better to leave these toxic environments and keep your sanity? As with the previous installments, this is a gorgeous, poetic film that says as much in its imagery as it does in its narrative – whether it’s the silent shot of father and son embracing through a car window and reconnecting after a deep fissure, the quick clip of the training montage that illustrates just how exceptional Logan has to be in order to be taken seriously, the shot of birds in flight after group of teenagers has run off, or the long and tense tracking shot as Logan chases down a suspect. This may not be as flashy as the other two entries in the Small Axe series, but this is just as moving and powerful.
