|
|
|
The Glass Shield
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - British Film Institute Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (22nd January 2017). |
|
The Film
 “The Glass Shield” (1994) Officer John Johnson, or “JJ” as he is nicknamed (played by Michael Boatman) is a rookie police officer freshly assigned to a police precinct in Edgemar Station in Los Angeles. He has high hopes to bring the bad guys down and make a good name for himself as a neighborhood policeman, but the reality was not as simple. Being the only black cop in the station of mostly older white officers, JJ has a hard time fitting in with the tough group. He is often chewed out and criticized by Commander Massey (played by Richard Anderson) and the others. But he is not the only “outsider” at the station. Officer Deborah Fields (played by Lori Petty) is a young female officer, and the only female working at the station. While she is sometimes harassed for her gender and also for her Jewish blood, she holds it in and takes it non-personally. The station is going through a rough spot because of an incident in which a young black male was found dead in the station’s holding cell. Although it was claimed as a suicide, the community disagrees given the amount of brutality, negligence, and overall negative attitude from the police in the past. Things get even worse with two unrelated incidents - a murder of the wife of Mr. Greenspan (played by Elliott Gould) by a black male, and the arrest of Teddy Woods (played by Ice Cube) for carrying a gun that wasn’t his. While the two incidents took place at different times and had nothing to do with each other, the police department sees it as a way to place the blame on a man to quickly close the case. The police claim that Teddy’s gun was used to kill Mrs. Greenspan and charge him for murder. JJ and Deborah start to uncover the details of the case and see that things are not exactly matching up - with the gun numbers not matching up, evidence being changed, and facts not correlating. Ends up that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the corruption at Edgemar Station… “The Glass Shield” was based on a true story from the accounts of Johnson himself - John Eddie Johnson, former police officer at Edgemar Station in the 1980s, where police corruption and racial divide had been commonplace. Films like “Colors” (1988), “Do the Right Thing” (1989), and “Boyz n the Hood” (1991) took the issues cinematically but it wasn’t until the Rodney King incident on March 3rd, 1991 - when King was beaten near senselessly by a number of Los Angeles police officers and was caught on videotape that the world looked at the issue in reality. As the Rodney King trial ended in favor of the police, the triggering 1992 Los Angeles riots led to 55 deaths and more than 2000 injured, with millions of dollars lost in property damage. The police did not have a positive image then and making a film about Johnson’s experience was timely though not a positive view on police and the racial divide. Johnson’s screenplay which was co-written with Ned Welsh ended up in the hands of acclaimed director Charles Burnett’s hands - a director who had made films on or dealing with race issues in the past with his three previous feature films. While his last film “To Sleep with Anger” (1990) was a critical success it was a box office failure even with star actors like Danny Glover in the lead role. For “The Glass Shield” it was a much more commercial effort in terms of filmmaking, structure, and conventions which sets it a bit apart from the director’s previous independent works. Some rewrites were done to give additional drama to the story and characters rather than a simple factual story about a case and trial, the film still had some issues when the completed version was sold and to be distributed by Miramax. Burnett and Miramax were not happy about the anger-filled ending and money was given for a reshoot. Miramax was also interested in banking in on the success of Ice Cube as a rapper and now actor, who wanted additional scenes to be shot for the film. Burnett felt that did not to be extended and there were no reshoots featuring Ice Cube and the ending was the only change made before the official release. Although stylistically the film was pretty straightforward, there was the use of the primary red and blue colors to represent the tone. Red represents blood - the civilians. The woman in the red car that Johnson does not give the ticket to, how Johnson’s car starts from a brown clunker but later is a bright red car when he starts siding with the civilians in the murder case. Blue represents corruption - the police. With the blue within the police precinct, the basement area when JJ starts discovering the truth, there are many occasions where the colors also mix with each other blending in. Most obvious is the police lights which use both colors at the same time. America is still a very red and blue country - with the two major political parties using the colors to represent themselves and the divide can be seen nationally and not only in the film. The racial divide is suddenly as divided as ever with police shootings of young black men such as Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown becoming national and international headlines all the way into the 2010s. “The Glass Shield” may have been a film about a case in the 1980s but played out and adapted in a 1990s setting, the story still shows that very little progress has been made between the police and racial profiling in the hardest cases. Michael Boatman plays the character of JJ well, but he is more of the every-man in this case rather than a real “hero” type. In the opening credit scene, which is animated in a comic book form, JJ imagines himself being a real police hero, but in reality he is not and the role is played mostly in subtlety. Lori Petty is always a reliable actress and she puts on a tough persona while still being caring for JJ’s character. While Ice Cube is gets the biggest face on the posters for the film, he is in it for roughly 15 minutes of the entire runtime. Great lines of delivery but his character was quite underused for the film. What about the backstory of his family? The girlfriend in the car? What the girlfriend’s father is going through? While they all appear, they are essentially the subplot of the story.Michael Ironside and M. Emmet Walsh who play detective Baker and Hall respectively also give excellent performances as the corrupt detectives. Great performers, an acclaimed director, and an intriguing true story make for success, but the film was not a success, grossing only 3 million dollars theatrical when it was released in America on June 5th 1995 while the O.J. Simpson case was still on trial. The story may have been too run-of-the-mill with reality at this point as people wanted an escape from the brutal reality of police corruption and violence. The film went relatively unnoticed and while critics were kinder than the public, it was not nominated for any major awards. As well meaning as it was, the film never found an audience by the masses. Note this is a region B Blu-ray which can only be played back on region B or region free Blu-ray players
Video
The British Film Institute originally planned to release the film on DVD only as they could not get access to a high definition master for a Blu-ray. Luckily they were able to gain access to an HD master following the announcement leading to a slight delay on the release. The Blu-ray presents the film in 1080p in the AVC-MPEG-4 codec, in the original theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The important colors of red and blue are accurately reproduced while the rest of the colors are more on the muted side. There are certain limitations of extreme detail and depth but on the good side the print is very clean with very few if any specs or dust on the image. Film grain is still visible and there is no artificial sharpening of the image. The film’s runtime is 109:55
Audio
English LPCM 2.0 stereo The original stereo track is presented in lossless audio. Dialogue is always centered and is easy to hear with no problems of audio errors. Music - from ambient score tracks to the hip hop in the background are well played using the left and right separations. Overall it is a good track but not necessarily a bumping one. There are optional English HoH subtitles for the film in a white font. The subtitles are well timed and easy to read, but there was a moment in the final scene when JJ is talking to Barbara (played by Victoria Dillard) in which the line “I thought I was doing right” was not subtitled for some reason. Also the final rap song during the credits is subtitled halfway but the rest is left unsubtitled. By the way, even with my knowledge of 90s hip hop, I have no idea who the song was by or what the song was called that was at the end. It is not credited in the end credits, the soundtrack album was never released on physical media, and Shazaming or Googling the lyrics brought up nothing. It really feels like the 90s again pre-Internet days of hearing a song and not knowing what it was!
Extras
BFI has released “The Glass Shield” in a Blu-ray+DVD dual format release. The film and the extras on the Blu-ray are repeated on the DVD which is in PAL region 2. Isolated Music and Effects Track in LPCM 2.0 The stereo music and effects track is there, which is basically the film without the dialogue. “Behind The Glass Shield” Interview with Charles Burnett (25:35) This is a newly recorded 2016 video interview with the director, who talks about his early life, getting into film and UCLA to become a cinematographer, and about “The Glass Shield”. He has some interesting stories such as going on a “ride along” with Los Angeles cops to prepare for the film and about the suggestions that Miramax made for the release. He makes it clear in the interview that he was also displeased with the original ending and that he was not forced to change it on Miramax’s demand. Also discussed is about the police department’s image and the actions from past to present and the current “Black Lives Matter” movement. in 1080i 60hz AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English LPCM 2.0 with no subtitles Alternate Ending (1:57) There is not much difference in the alternate ending as the fate of JJ is unchanged. The biggest difference is the style of acting, as in the original ending JJ is furious, angry, and extremely cynical. In the reshot ending, JJ is furious but more confused and lost but only to have Barbara help more with the consolation giving personal hope. The scene is from a film source but it is not as clean and clear as the main feature. To my research, this is the first time that the alternate ending has been made available as previous Blu-ray and DVD releases did not include it. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.85:1, in English LPCM 2.0 with no subtitles 16 page booklet The booklet includes essays, photos, and credits. The first essay is ”The Glass Shield” written by Bridget Minamore - writer, poet, and journalist part of the Brainchild Festival and one of Speaking Volume’s 40 Stars of Black British Literature. The film was previously issued on Blu-ray in the United States by Echo Bridge as a 4-film single disc release with lossy Dolby Digital audio with no extras. As for DVD releases, Miramax in the US released the film in a barebones edition in 2002 followed by a “Collector’s Edition” in 2005. The Collector’s Edition included a commentary by Burnett and two featurettes - and sadly none of those extras were carried over to the BFI Blu-ray release.
Overall
“The Glass Shield” is enjoyable but does suffer from being predictable and staying too close to conventional filmmaking, but the story about police corruption and racial divide is just as relevant as it was in the 1990s as it is modern America in 2017. The BFI's Blu-ray has a good transfer with relevant new extras but sadly does not port over the older US Collector's Edition DVD extras. The film still comes as a recommended watch.
|
|||||
|