The tension in the bank robbery stand-off thriller Breaking is so intense that you can’t believe, when you think back on it, that the film has been mostly very quiet – the dialogue spoken in non-hysterical, measured tones.
And only one shot is fired in the whole film
Written and directed by Abi Damaris Corbin and co-written by Kwame Kwei-Armah, there isn’t one false move. Everything feels authentic.
Not being a Star Wars franchise expert, I didn’t realize how amazing lead actor John Boyega is at his craft – probably because the Star Wars dialogue is so less demanding. Here, the British actor is playing American vet Brian Brown-Easley.
We first see that Easley is a loving and devoted father to his daughter, but that he also has a disability (probably PTSD) and through mistakes and bureaucratic red tape by the Veterans Affairs, he is moving from a dumpy motel to the streets. Another homeless vet.
We can see when he enters the bank, quietly passing a note to the teller that he has a bomb in his backpack that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. I mean, he doesn’t even want the banks money. No, it seems his main motive is to be heard, seen, and listened to. The fact that his desperation has led him to such an unreasonable point is part of the tragedy of his life.
After immediately releasing everyone unharmed, keeping only one teller and a manager with him, his story starts slowly unraveling. Slowly being a key word-he has immediately requested his hostages to call the police and get a negotiator for him.
It takes forever for the police to get it in gear, and because the location seems to be in a predominantly African-American area near Atlanta, you wonder if that’s the reason why, but the film doesn’t posit that theory, those were just my thoughts.
When a negotiator finally arrives, we as an audience are happy to see the late Michael K. Williams (The Wire) in the role. It’s a bittersweet moment – I don’t know if this was the last role he filmed, but it reminds us of his broad range of ability. He sure is missed.
Although based on a true story, I’ll stop here with the finer details. The two men share some background details in common, quite apart from both being Black men who have an unspoken connection that just wasn’t going to be possible with the first officer they put on the line with Easley.
The two actresses who share the empty bank with Easley are Selenis Leyva as the teller and especially Nicole Beharie as the manager whose calming presence and shared frustration with her captor’s situation make for captivating dynamic between the actors.
I’ll be honest – the film taking place mostly in one location, could have been trimmed about 15 minutes and been a tighter film to watch. But considering that half the cast and creators are British, it is shockingly on point how well they captured a tragic and all too common example of the failures between vets and the V.A.
| Bleecker Street will release BREAKING in theaters on August 26, 2022 |
Saw an advance screening of this last night in Georgetown. The only thing I would add is to definitely read the “note” at the end of the film.
J.
Thanks, J. Just seeing this!