Certificate: 15 (strong language, sex, discrimination, violence). Running Time: 95 mins. UK Distributor: Signature Entertainment
WHO’S IN IT?
Jeremy Pope, Raúl Castillo, Bokeem Woodbine, Gabrielle Union, McCaul Lombardi, Aaron Dominguez, Nicholas Logan, Eman Esfandi, Andrew Kai, Aubrey Joseph
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Elegance Bratton (director, writer), Effie Brown and Chester Algernal Gordon (producers), Animal Collective (composer), Lachlan Milne (cinematographer), Oriana Soddu (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A discriminated gay man (Pope) joins the US Marine Corps…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE INSPECTION?
Even though the very comparison is almost insultingly easy to make – not least because both movies share similar themes, character arcs, and even the same production company A24 – I like to think of writer-director Elegance Bratton’s debut feature The Inspection as an alternate-universe version of Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, where instead of becoming a drug dealer to prove his hetero-intwined masculinity in the third act, protagonist Chiron decides to join the US Marine Corps. At times, this film does feel like it’s a feature-length version of that all-encompassing final act of Moonlight, one that also happens to be spliced with familiar army training conventions throughout, but Bratton’s feature is an emotional experience as it shows in often graphic detail the harsh and brutal tribulations of being a young gay Black man in one of the most unforgiving training experiences in the country, maybe even the world.
Bratton’s film is loosely autobiographical, based on his own experiences as a young Marine being put through the wringer during training in the mid-to-late 2000s. We first meet his on-screen avatar, Ellis French (Jeremy Pope), as he’s living uncomfortably in a New Jersey homeless shelter, having been kicked out nearly ten years prior by his homophobic mother Inez (Gabrielle Union). Deciding to enlist as a Marine, since he’s certain that the vagabond life he’s currently living will mean an early death sentence, he and the other recruits are immediately put under intense scrutiny by their bullish drill sergeant Leland Laws (Bokeem Woodbine), but Ellis initially manages to overcome his strict new regime through rigorous training exercises and suppression of his more sensitive personality. However, he suffers even greater after his sexuality is quickly revealed, leading him to decide what kind of person he wants to be when his training eventually ends.
For context, The Inspection takes place in 2005, with the US invasion of Iraq in full swing, and roughly around the same time that Bratton began his own Marine training, even with the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy still being enforced in the United States Army. It’s vital to know these things because it adds deeper meaning to the intense scrutiny that Pope’s Ellis faces throughout the course of this movie, from the rampant homophobia being barked at him by drill sergeants and fellow recruits, to the almost parodic levels of hypermasculinity that he is exposed to. Race is also brought into the picture, as one of Ellis’ fellow soldiers-in-training Ismail (Eman Esfandi), who happens to be Muslim, is frequently singled out by Woodbine’s Laws for being the kind of person that they will be expected to kill whilst deployed in the Middle East, and at one point is even forced into the firing line during rifle practise as an expendable target. All of these, and other pretty despicable acts that occur throughout, are issues which are clearly personal to Bratton, who presents this period in his life as an unflinching and often dangerous episode that certainly takes its toll on his semi-fictional protagonist, but ultimately he finds greater meaning to his life as well as a sense of self-acceptance that he cannot find anywhere else.
Much of this is going to be extremely familiar to viewers who have been through their fair share of movies about military training, from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket to Sam Mendes’ Jarhead, many of which will probably be thought about a lot by those who watch The Inspection. Its portrayal of the hard-boiled, uber-masculine methods used to whip the recruits into physical and mental shape is hardly anything new, as are the antagonistic personalities of these drill sergeants who openly admit to their cruel, bullying nature as though they just scored a high mark in their maths test. Of course, that probably is how it all goes down in real life Marine training, and Bratton is clearly drawing from personal experience when it comes to showing how unforgiving a lot of it could be, but in the world of film where it’s only ever really been portrayed as such, it’s reached a point where you are just picturing all those other famous movies that set the benchmark, rather than being truly introduced to this nasty and uncomfortable military world.
What saves it from falling too far into familiar territory is the real level of emotion that Bratton brings to his script and direction, as well as the empathetic performances of his cast. Jeremy Pope, having previously stood out in recent Ryan Murphy TV projects Pose and Hollywood, is excellent in the lead role, presenting himself as vulnerable as he is determined to overcome his personal demons, but never compromising his real identity (in one of the film’s funniest moments, he uses war paint like make-up during a climactic training exercise). Bokeem Woodbine is also on fiery form, channelling his inner R. Lee Ermey to bring to life a devilish figure, while Gabrielle Union makes a strong impression in a particularly venomous role that is wildly against type for the actor. They are all given firm pointers by Bratton, who presents a vision of institutionalised discrimination which often feels hard to watch, because it is presented in such a raw and open way that could only come from someone who’s actually lived through it. The stylish direction further emphasises the struggles of forcibly repressing one’s true self, such as a fantasy sequence in a shower where the lighting and music cues reflect the desires of this young man that cannot ever be stamped or beaten out of him.
Though it plays the military angle relatively by-the-book, The Inspection is a well-intentioned and emotional retelling of an experience that will ring true to many other gay people who went through something similar in the military, but beyond that it is also a profoundly human tale of overcoming adversaries and institutions that have been designed and programmed to erase any sensitivity and softness, by simply embracing those qualities even more, no matter who you ask and who you tell.
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Inspection is an emotional story of a young gay Black man’s time in the US Marine Corps, with writer-director Elegance Bratton drawing from his own experiences to profound effect, not least of all due to some excellent performances by the likes of Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, but a largely familiar depiction of brutal military training methods often leaves you thinking of other movies like Full Metal Jacket instead.
