As producers and creators across the film industry are making more Black-centric stories available for free, here’s another title from indie distributor Neon.
Neon has made the film Monsters and Men, a socially-conscious drama based on a compelling racial turmoil, available for free. The film will be available for streaming throughout June on VOD platforms including Apple TV, Google Play, FandangoNow, and Vudu for no charges.
Centered around the real life killing of Eric Gardner by the police, the drama is probably closest to the story of George Floyd who too was a victim of racially motivated police brutality.
In 2014, Eric Garner died in Staten Island after a cop put him in a chokehold. The story is set off after a bystander films the death of a Black man at the hands of police, igniting racial tensions throughout a neighborhood in New York City.
One of the most poignant aspects of the film has to be how each of the three lead characters struggle to answer friends and relatives who encourage them to stay silent (and therefore complicit) in the injustices around them.
The 2018 film stars John David Washington, Anthony Ramos, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Cara Buono, and Kelvin Harrison Jr.
The film did not receive much praise for its borscht execution even though its heart was in the right place. Its compassionate portrayal of a sensitive storyline remains its biggest takeaway.
According to Alex Godfrey at the Empire the film is “gently prodding at you rather than grabbing you by the throat, it is intentionally unexplosive, but lights a fire nevertheless.”
Giving it a 5 on 5, Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers believes that despite all its shortcomings, “there’s no denying the righteous indignation that fuels Monsters and Men, a powerhouse that couldn’t be more timely or necessary.”
The film joins Ava DuVernay’s searing documentary 13th, available for free on YouTube from Netflix and Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan, from Warner Bros., a lineup of films from Black directors that are free on the Criterion Channel.
No Comments on #BLM: Monsters and Men Made Available for Free through June