The Force

The result, unusual in a documentary involving the police and the public, is a film that does not advocate for anything but the truth, one that aims to show what happens on both sides of an issue rather than coming down in favor of one or the other.

A strong film that tackles a charged subject in a fair and even-handed manner. The Force will give viewers of all social and political persuasions much to think about afterwards.

The movie may offer an incriminatory catalog of organizational failure, but it also repeatedly shows people trying to make the system work.

To his credit, director Peter Nicks accepts the dispiriting trajectory that this initially hopeful film ultimately takes-there's no dissembling here.

Nicks doesn't deal in heroes and villains - the police and the community activists all get nuanced portrayals. But when mistakes are made, no one gets off the hook either.

The strength, and fascination, of "The Force" is that the movie isn't on anyone's side.

Although it has its imperfections, The Force stands out for its uniquely equitable treatment of law enforcement as a complex organism necessitating difficult incremental changes.

Seeming transparency, earnest meetings, and revised training procedures all turn out not to have revealed the rotten core of business-as-usual ethics after all.

... we see why it's so hard for minorities to feel like they can trust those assigned to protect them. Two communities pull in opposite directions, perhaps permanently.

Nicks has crafted and important and timeless film that hopefully one day we'll be able to look back upon as history far removed from the current moment. Here's hoping.

As the nation turns its eyes on its police departments, Nicks offers an interior view of one adapting to the dictates of 21st-century policing.

A fascinating doc just being able to see how things really work within the police department compared to what we see in press conferences and through the media.