The first word that would pop into your brain to describe this drama, based on actual events, is “timely”. But, tragically, that means little given the regularity with which people die at the hands of US police, either by accident or design. The killing at the centre of director David Midell’s almost unbearably tense film happened in White Plains, NY, in 2011. However, as there are only audio recordings, forensic reports and witness statements to document what happened, Chamberlain’s death didn’t capture the public imagination in the same way that George Floyd’s or Breonna Taylor’s did in 2020, for example.
Viewers might care to discuss the difference between such cases’ circumstances and the times in which they happened, but one of the film’s more audacious qualities is that it just leaves such debate to us, choosing to simply depict the events as gathered from investigators and witnesses. It’s probably best absorbed by knowing as little about the story as possible, other than that Chamberlain (played with exceptional skill by Frankie Faison) was a 68-year-old African American former marine with a heart condition and mental health issues. Chamberlain accidentally pressed his health alarm in the middle of the night, which set in motion a fatal encounter with police.
There’s a bit of text at the end that fills in a little of the story’s background and outcome, but the drama cleaves entirely to staging a faithful reconstruction of the events, practically in real time. It’s almost like an American true-crime version of The Death of Mr Lazarescu, Cristi Puiu’s canonical contribution to the Romanian new wave, but with a suspense-building musical underscore. Playing policemen with their own contrasting approaches to the situation, Steve O’Connell and Enrico Natale offer sturdy support to Faison’s indelible, wrenching, but entirely unsentimental star turn.
• The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain is available on 9 May on digital platforms.
