CIFF 2023: I’m Just Here for the Riot Review

It’s June 2011. It’s the night of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Boston Bruins vs the Vancouver Canucks. The energy was high early into the night with hopes that the team would be able to bring home the trophy. However, as the night went on, it was clear that the Canucks were not going to win. Losing 3-0, the energy was low compared to when the game started. I’m Just Here for the Riot covers the events after the loss and the city’s visceral reaction. Following several individuals who were directly part of the riots, the film analyzes mob culture, both online and in real life, directed at the people involved and directed towards the anger the Canucks’ fans felt that night.

I’m Just Here for the Riot shines a light on those directly involved with the riot, those who left before the worst of it, those who tried to stop it, and those who were part of the rioting and destruction of Vancouver. In the end, the documentary is fairly standard, with talking head segments featuring those involved such as, police officers, and journalists, and a combination of clips and footage of the riot posted to social media, a fairly new novelty at the time. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were still in their infancy in terms of how they were used, and certainly were not as popular as they are today, nor used the same way.

From there, the film delves into the aftermath. A Facebook page was started in order to prosecute the perpetrators, showing photos and asking for the public’s help to identify alleged suspects. As a documentary, it has several great ideas that are unfortunately never expanded on. Being a pretty surface level documentary, this is to be expected. Firstly, the idea of rioting itself and the mentality of why people riot and how cameras are involved. At the time of the riots, social media itself was mostly in its infancy therefore no one could have predicted the consequences of filming something and posting it on Twitter or Facebook. The idea of mob mentality when the riot took place was mentioned but never further explained or delved into, and the idea of “what is rioting” is mentioned, but alas, never further explained. The film highlights the scale of the number of rioters present but only filmed what others were doing. Were they rioting too? Or were they just complicit in the events? It’s a shame that these ideas were not explored more, as a deep dive into these ideas and going beyond the surface level themes would have made a far more interesting documentary.

The second idea covered here is the idea of mob mentality and the gray area between criticizing and not condoning the actions of rioters and not going too far discussing those action on social media. In all, the filmmakers spoke to several rioters directing part of the riot, most of whom received extensive media coverage, one appearing a viral photo during the riot (their identity was anonymous, which was interesting because his identity has been fairly documented as a result of the riots). Each of the rioters explain what happened that night and how they got caught up in the riot. Most of them were intoxicated, and all of them received extensive criticism on social media from death threats to doxing. To start, death threats and doxing cross the line. Despite the rioters’ actions, they did not deserve threats against their lives or to have their personal information leaked. However, making themselves out to be victims made them less likeable. They were all adults, in college, who went out and destroyed property and gave the city of Vancouver a terrible name for years to come. That night was more than just “dumb actions” someone did as a teenager, but an event they participated in that came with consequences. The act of this being, what someone in the documentary called, “the first smartphone riot”, with the new age of the smartphone and cameras being readily available, footage was quickly shared online and was easily accessible.

The mob mentality that attacked the rioters maybe went too far, but how some tried to make themselves into victims just did not work. For example, one of them, an athlete, lost sponsorships as a consequence for his actions. In this case, one cannot blame a company for not wanting to be associated with anyone who destroys property when a sports team lost a game. However, one can feel sympathy for the way the event followed these people, even ten years later. Will this be an event who follows these people for the rest of their lives? Yes. However, these people have shown a willingness to better themselves and prove that they are more than their bad decisions during a dark moment in their lives.

At the end of the day, I’m Just Here for the Riot proves informative, but ultimately doesn’t dive deep enough into the issues it presents. It does a well enough job at exploring the riot from both angles, though perhaps offers a little too much sympathy to the rioters at times, and looking at the consequences of their actions. It looks at the grey area between not condoning one’s actions and going too far with one’s response to them. What the rioters did was awful, and they deserve every (not threatening) bit of criticism that called them out. However, it does not mean they are not people worthy of empathy and capable of change.

still courtesy of CIFF

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Jasmine Graham