- Starring
- Charlene Modeste
- Writer
- Tobi Haslett
- Director
- Sierra Pettengill
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 91 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
Many look upon America in the 1960s and know it to have been a period of pivotal change in our nation’s history. A shift marking a change in beliefs, equality, and progress. Most can point to moments throughout this decade that are positive, however, Riotsville USA shines a more somber light on the latter half of the decade where there becomes a clear divide in which the country is forced to make a moral decision which is felt through the decades to follow up until today.
Riotsville USA takes archival footage from 1967-69, focusing on the growing unrest of African Americans who were subject to police brutality, societal inequality, and much more. The documentary shows the government’s reaction through preparation and prevention, manifested through pop-up towns used as training facilities for riot control that specifically target deterring riot agitators. As more and more protests occurred, President Lyndon B. Johnson issues an investigation to determine what can be done beyond militarization to dissuade the public from creating them, discovering that our nation is near a societal collapse and social divide where Black and White are separated. This fearful approach masked as preparedness was further emphasized through another perspective that examines the public’s evolving perception as the national news begins to subtly empower neighborhoods to arm themselves in fear of their towns being a victim of these civil unrests.
The film slowly unravels this unspoken narrative through its footage where there is a seamless transition from talking heads on the news drowning out those that are speaking the truth, to commercials emphasizing similar messaging hidden behind everyday products mixed with voices of support for the national changes that are occurring. It’s a looming storm that the audience could predict, becoming something highly reminiscent of current events using similar rhetoric and maneuvers.
Riotsville USA defines a nation that was presented with an opportunity to affect true change but the price was deemed too expensive, resulting in a cheaper option in a bill of morality that has been passed onto each generation that came after. The film doesn’t deliver its message through heavy-handed communication but instead guides audiences with a gentle hand quietly towards its inevitable conclusion. Some of its stylistic choices and editing decisions do not fully come to fruition but its missteps are minor in comparison to its full vision.
*still courtesy of Sundance
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