The Suspect
Review by Briege McGarrity
Completed in 2013, The Suspect is a dramatic and tense psychological thriller conceived over two years ago by writer/director and historian Stuart Connelly. Connelly is best known as a co-author with Clarence B. Jones of Behind the Dream, an insider account of the planning of the 1963 March on Washington that defined the Civil Rights Movement. In interviews he has stated he was “determined to bring all he’d learned about the searing force of racial prejudice into a narrative feature.”
Connelly has succeeded in creating an affecting and powerfully acted film starring Mekhi Phifer (Clockers, 8 Mile, ER), William Sadler (Iron Man 3, The Shawshank Redemption, Die Hard 2) with co-stars Northern Ireland native James McCaffrey (Max Payne, Rescue Me), Sterling K. Brown (Army Wives, Our Idiot Brother) and Rebecca Creskoff (HBO’s HUNG and Curb Your Enthusiasm).
Racism, bigotry and racial profiling are always topical in the US. The recent controversy associated with the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” policy has many in NYC outraged: statistics show 90% of minority males are targeted. In The Suspect, Phifer and Brown play two African American college professors who impersonate bank robbers in an effort to understand the racial dynamics of small-town law enforcement. But as the movie plot unfolds, audiences realize that their ostensible social experiment is taking an unexpected, deadly turn where nothing is what it seems.
The film begins with an armed bank robbery at Carolina Credit and Trust Bank, located in the small, all white town of Midland. Cut to a black suspect (Phifer) being interrogated in the clinker by the racist – subtle as-a-head-punch, Sheriff Dixon, convincingly played by William Sadler of Shawshank Redemption fame and his sidekick Deputy Riley (Derek Roche). Phifer was seen walking along an isolated road and immediately became a person of interest. In their exchanges, Phifer can be seen deliberately encouraging a line of questioning that would substantiate the professors’ hypothesis that bias exists.
The idea of a Southern law official trying to intimidate an innocent black man, repeatedly calling him “boy” etc. may not be original raw material. However the notion of black social scientists designing an elaborate experiment that examines race relations is an interesting premise. Appropriately as in any psychological thriller, there are twists and turns. Audiences learn that the experiment was previously conducted in another white town in the Mid-West, with Brown playing the role of armed robber. Later in the holding cell, Brown explains the rationale behind the experiment. His request to get the revealing footage off the Sheriff (McCaffrey) is denied, forcing the duo to repeat the experiment in another white town.
Things start to get very tense when Brown fails to return the money to the bank, forcing Phifer to explain that they are academics posing as robbers… or are they? Without giving too much away, it emerges that an increasingly primal Phifer required a substantial amount of money and seems prepared to take drastic “action” to procure it. Greed, corruption as well as race emerge as central themes throughout this independent “message movie” that has a very unpredictable ending.
Apart from some slightly confusing flashbacks, the film is well-paced and requires concentration from the viewer. The soundtrack composed by Stephen Coates with songs performed by his band The Real Tuesday Weld captures the essence of a film that does force you to take a close and personal look at your own preconceived beliefs. For that reason alone, The Suspect deserved several nods at the recent American Black Film Festival (ABFF) in Miami, a film festival dedicated to showcasing quality black films. Favorable reviews and a theatrical release via ITN Distribution are definitely on the cards.
