By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
A spotlight shines on this country’s inability to take care of its veterans in “Breaking.” If this wasn’t reason enough to see this film, John Boyega’s rousing performance is another. Based on a true story, “Breaking” signals a call to action that shouldn’t be ignored.
Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega) is a marine veteran navigating a return to civilian life after being injured in the line of duty during Iraqi Freedom. Unfortunately, civilian life hasn’t been kind to Brian, who finds himself divorced, living out of a cheap motel with limited visitation with his young daughter, Kiah Easley (London Covington). The breaking point comes when the Department of Veterans Affairs reallocates the money owed to him to cover the cost of Brian dropping out of college, despite his attempts to correct this situation directly with the VA.
With homelessness looming, Brian takes drastically reckless and criminal measures to gain the public’s awareness to the plight that faces tens of thousands of our veterans. He holds up a bank, taking 2 hostages, Estel Valerie (Nicole Beharie) and Rosa Diaz (Selenis Leyva), who are managers at the bank. His intent is not to rob the bank, but to create enough attention that forces the VA to correct a wrong and deliver his $892.34 into his bank account. As a police and media frenzy ensues, negotiator Eli Bernard (Michael K. Williams) enters the scene to attempt a peaceful resolution with Brian. The threat of a homemade bomb, however, has everyone on edge and could undermine Brian’s goals.
Abi Damaris Corbin directs this powerful drama. While this may be her first major theatrical release, she directs this story like a seasoned pro. Abi uses an intimate filmmaking approach to heighten the emotion of the story and elicit a more visceral response from the audience. To achieve that, she employs numerous close-up camera angles on the actors. For this to work, it requires a very talented cast able to deliver believable performances and deliver they did.
John Boyega highlights this terrific cast, which impressively won Best Ensemble Cast at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Boyega delivers a knockout performance, exhibiting complicated layers to this mentally and emotionally scarred real life character. He superbly generates empathy and understanding for the criminal actions without condoning them. This is surprising, considering his underwhelming one-dimensional performance as Finn in the most recent “Star War” trilogy. Hopefully, this performance is remembered come award nomination time because he deserves some nods.
Sadly, this film represents the final performance of 54-year-old Michael K. Williams, who passed away last year from a drug overdose. Best known for his incredible performances in HBO’s “The Wire” and “Boardwalk Empire,” Williams expertly portrays a hostage negotiator genuinely trying his best to keep everyone alive including the hostage taker in “Breaking.” He has a commanding presence in this supporting role that can’t be overlooked.
Nicole Beharie and Selenis Leyva play the captive bank managers, and they both deliver captivating and believable performances. They both capture that heightened level of fear from being in that situation in their own unique ways that adds to the realism.
Unfortunately, “Breaking” hasn’t received much in the way of marketing and is only playing in select theaters currently, but theatergoers shouldn’t miss this one. It’s not a perfect film, but it deserves proper attention to a problem that has been plaguing this country for many years. Maybe one of these days, we’ll learn how to properly honor our heroes returning from war and keeping us all safe.
This movie earns:
