REBEL RIDGE

Coincidentally I recently watched 'In The Heat of the Night' which like this film shows that being a black man in the southern United States is no picnic.

The black man here, Terry, is simply trying to post bail in a small town in Louisana in order to stop his cousin being sent to a state prison where his life is likely to be at risk.  This turns out to be surprisingly difficult (a bit of an understatement).  Admittedly the initial problem is not so much racism as it is police corruption, but thereafter it's clear that the main reason that the police chief won't be reasonable is that he is a racist, and that racism permeates most of the police force.

The only person in the town willing to help Terry is a young courthouse clerk Summer, and as the film progresses Terry is reluctantly drawn into helping her uncover the nature of the corruption.  

All three lead roles are very well acted, by Aaron Pierre as Terry, Don Johnson as the police chief, and by AnnaSophia Robb as Summer.  All three characters are well fleshed out as believable people, and throughout there are moments when a minor character doesn't behave as if they are in a film, which adds to the sense of the film being grounded in reality. 

On the other hand there are some violent action scenes especially towards the end which do strain credulity, and I was left feeling that the film can't quite make up its mind whether it's an out-and-out action film or a conspiracy thriller.  Overall I think it succeeds more as the former, given that even by the end I didn't really understand how the police chief's scheme worked. 

But I don't wish to end on a negative note.  It's a very watchable and enjoyable film, which certainly makes me want to seek out other films by Jeremy Saulnier, who wrote and directed this.