Straight Outta Compton
Straight Outta Compton
(2015)
A Review by Grant Kanigan
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Written by: Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff,
S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus
Starring: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins,
Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti
Rating: 14A
Release Date: August 14th 2015
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| Jason Mitchell and Corey Hawkins work their musical magic as Eazy-E & Dr. Dre in Straight Outta Compton Photo by Jaimie Trueblood - © Universal Pictures |
Straight Out of Compton follows five young men struggling to make ends meet in Compton, a suburb of Los Angeles defined by street violence and thuggery. Yet, as the members of NWA struggle to showcase, is so much more than the negative, violent stereotypes portrayed in the news media. NWA, (short for 'Niggaz Wit Attitudes'), consists of five members, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren & DJ Yella. Playing small gigs for cash, Dr. Dre dreams of making original music that showcases his life experience. While his small gigs are an outlet for him and Ice Cube to showcase their talent, the exposure isn't large enough, and the fetters placed on them by club owners stifle their creativity. Enter Eazy-E. Struggling with a life dealing drugs, (Compton opens with an explosive and brutal introduction to E escaping from the police), Eazy-E wants more than to become a statistic in his life and would rather spend his money fostering musical creativity end up in a body bag. From there, the film follows the group as they rise to fame, face opposition from conservatives, battle with law enforcement and themselves.
What could have run as a 'lifetime' biography set in the 'hood' becomes more like a Shakespearean tragedy under the deft hand of Gray. Although only one member of the group dies from AIDS, while others find solo success, none of the five make it through unscathed. By casting relative unknowns and creating well rounded characters, the film becomes a poignant and tragic reminder of the ills of excess, ego and fate. O'Shea Jackson Jr., (Ice Cube's son), Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy E, respectively, pull off their roles with a taut commitment that comes with the responsibility of playing real life characters. And what a real life these characters have had.
Straight Outta Compton has come under fire recently for the actions of it's characters, and it's possible pro-riot/anti-police subject matter. While I'm not going to say Dr. Dre's history of domestic violence is okay in any shape or form, I will posit that to single out one man and chastise him for his past is extremely hypocritical in today's day and age. Ben Roethlisberger is an alleged rapist, Woody Allen is an alleged child molester, Matthew Broderick killed someone, famed Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis murdered people, and Tim Allen was a coke dealer. It seems that if someone does something society likes, we choose to remain willfully ignorant of their shady pasts. It happens all the time, and only recently have these people become somewhat accountable for their life-destroying pasts. I am NOT saying Dr. Dre should be let off the hook, no, he needs to be held accountable for his past. All I'm saying is that the singling out of a black entertainer and businessman is suspect when Hollywood and the american elite is filled to the brim with criminals and sociopaths. Yet, the story of NWA is a supremely important story, and deserves to be told, warts and all.
The most poignant aspect of Straight Outta Compton, is it's exploration of one of NWA's quintessential tracks, "Fuck the Police"and the ensuing aftermath. The song came not out of a desire to be criminals, or just teenage rebelliousness against authority, but the racial bias that people in Compton experience daily, from the Los Angeles police department. It came to a head with the Rodney King beatings and ensuing riots, but has recently returned to the mainstream media's focus; everyone seems to be saying that it's a prime time for Straight Outta Compton to be released, with the deaths of Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and many more in the past few years. I disagree; it's been a long time coming. There has been racial bias, racism and a racial passive aggressiveness in the United States for centuries. It's just now that people are beginning to notice, and the success of Straight Outta Compton is proof of such a statement. That's the reason why NWA's story is important, and recognizing the group as artists is extremely important. This isn't just a biopic like Walk the Line or Coal Miners Daughter. Gray's film has importance outside of the members of NWA, and gives credence to the voices of millions of Americans. Dr. Dre may be a woman beating piece of shit, and Eazy-E may have been a drug dealer, but the music NWA created was more important than its members. Many have suggested that once a work of art is released to the public, it's no longer the authors property and becomes an entity in and of itself; Roland Barthes put forward such ideas in The Death of the Author, stating, "once an action is recounted, for intransitive
ends, and no longer in order to act directly upon reality — that is, finally external to
any function but the very exercise of the symbol — [a] disjunction occurs, the voice
loses its origin, the author enters his own death, writing begins." NWA, by telling it's story on screen has brought on it's own death through this process, while Straight Outta Compton has risen like a phoenix, becoming the voice of a disenchanted sub-culture of America. It's time people started listening.
GRANT'S RATING: 5/5 Stars
Straight Outta Compton clip: "Our Art is a Reflection of Our Reality"
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