Netflix dropped the trailer for “Power” Monday, a new documentary focused on the division between people and police in America.
It is hard to watch the trailer for “Power” with an open mind. In modern American society, most of us think we know why we feel a certain way about crime and policing. Those of us who’ve lived in ever-declining cities witnessed the seemingly overnight rise in violent crime, which came coupled with a sudden defunding of law enforcement departments in some of the most dangerous places.
At the same time, in these same places, we learned how threatening and deadly out-of-control power within law enforcement can be. We’re also watching how corruptible the ethics of law enforcement overlords can be, even to the point where it backfires on those tasked with controlling our safety.
Ask anyone you pass on the street who has more power: the people or the police, and I’d bet you’d get both answers for myriad reasons, almost all inspired by lived experience. So it’ll be interesting to see who director Yance Ford and co-writer Ian Olds asked in their upcoming Netflix documentary “Power.”
The story is apparently focused on how the 18th-century slave patrols and militias across America’s frontier laid the foundation of modern policing, according to IndieWire. This modern policing is “so violent and unregulated that no democracy would consciously think to invent it,” their review states.
Variety said the film is “detached,” noting that it fails to get deeper into the issue of violence. (RELATED: New ‘Ghostbusters’ Trailer Doesn’t Look As Shockingly Awful As You Might Imagine. In Fact, It Looks Okay)
Personally, I’m going to try and watch this movie with an open mind. I hope you do too on May 17 when “Power” hits Netflix.