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The year is 2005, when the US military has started letting in homosexuals but only half-heartedly, under the policy of “we don’t ask, you don’t tell”. It is also just about four years after 9/11, with the ‘War on Terror’ playing continuously on the airwaves, and public support still high for it. The Marine route is as good as it gets to instant redemption.
Elegance Bratton captures this part heartbreakingly as the character who is his stand-in, Ellis French (Pope), has all doors closed on him before he turns up for boot camp. Earlier, at the homeless shelter where he lives, as a TV set blares news about injured American soldiers in faraway Iraq / Afghanistan, a friend tells him, “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
A shower sequence leads to the fellow recruits discovering his sexuality, and while he doesn’t accept or deny the same, there is a subtle shift. Bratton’s screenplay is rich in shades of grey, of dominant narratives crowding out every kind of minority – be it hyper-masculinity and gays, anti-terror messaging and a Muslim recruit, and the bullying with social sanction that is the military and a soldier who finally says no.
While this broadbases French’s story to one that many others can identify with, it also dilutes the impact. For long stretches, The Inspection is like any other brutal military boot camp story where boys learn to become men, so to speak – or, in this case, to become “monsters”. As the boss of this boot camp puts it, there is no other way to survive the war they have been waging against an enemy that keeps popping up.
Pope, a theatre actor, is excellent as the unsure, wounded French, who must get himself off the ground only to be kicked right back down, and who must keep taking risks (which can be fatal) in the hope of finding love where he can get it.
Union as French’s devout mother, whose God won’t let her accept her son has very little to do. Worse, she is cruelly one-dimensional, getting barely a chance to redeem herself for turning out her son like that. There is other sensitive acting around, but this film belongs to Pope. And, by extension, to Bratton. And to battles that don’t get TV time.
The Inspection movie cast: Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union, Bokeem Woodbine, Raúl Castillo
The Inspection movie director: Elegance Bratton
The Inspection movie rating: 3 stars
Click for more updates and latest Hollywood News along with Bollywood and Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the World at The Indian Express.
