In THE INSPECTION, Elegance Bratton directs a film inspired by personal experience in a straightforward, powerful way: after coming out, he was kicked out by his mother and lived on the street, before he finished basic training to become a marine. Later on he became an army photographer, studied, and began a film career as a documentarian. THE INSPECTION, his first fiction film, is focused on his time at boot camp: Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) has hit rock bottom when he visits his mother to get his birth certificate in order to become a soldier. Inez (Gabrielle Union), a tough woman who is also struggling to survive, pelts him with insults. They continue when he starts his basic training. In the US army the “don‘t ask, don‘t tell“ policy concerning homosexuality was in full effect back then, but French is identified as gay due to his voice and mannerisms. On the other hand, the horrors of the drill has egalitarian aspects: everyone is humiliated, and along with Ellis there‘s Muslim Ismail who is often the target of attacks by the sadistic drill sergeant Leland Laws (Bookeem Woodbine). In interviews, Bratton has said that he conceived his film as a mixture between FULL METAL JACKET and BEAU TRAVAIL. The result, besides a shower room fantasy that ends in disaster, leans more towards Kubrick, depicting the army as an ambivalent place. Besides the brutal antagonists, Ellis finds secret supporters, a solidarity develops along with the radical ostracism, and the army enables him to steer his life in a different direction.

Hendrike Bake

Translation: Elinor Lewy