The Inspection
The gay writer-director Elegance Bratton explores his own life of persecution, both at home and then in the Marines.
In more ways than one I found The Inspection a rather strange film. It is the work of Elegance Bratton who made the documentary feature Pier Boys in 2019 and who here in the dual capacities of writer and director turns his hand to working with actors. Even so, the story told in this film is one which is stated to be inspired by true events and, indeed, the publicity describes it as autobiographical, albeit that the central character has been renamed Ellis French. We do, of course, know that films based on actual events often offer dramatisations that are less than wholly factual, but The Inspection certainly tells Bratton’s own story, that of a black American gay man who, having been turned out by his family, eventually chose to join the Marines in order to prove himself and to have a goal in life.
An early scene finds French (Jeremy Pope) visiting his mother (Gabrielle Union) to obtain his birth certificate since this is required for his enlistment. Her continued rejection of him due to his sexuality is apparent, but we quickly move on and what now follows is set in a boot camp where recruits for the Marines undergo their tough training. The year is 2005 when army policy in America regarding homosexuals was summed up in the phrase ‘Don't ask, don't tell’, but when French’s sexuality becomes clear he is bullied both by the drill sergeant (Bokeem Woodbine) and by the recruit who is selected as squad leader (McCaul Lombardi). Another recruit, Ismail (Eman Esfandi), is victimised too (in his case it is due to his being a Muslim) and, indeed, much of the film echoes Stanley Kubrick 1987 drama Full Metal Jacket which Bratton has acknowledged as an influence.
Inevitably that comparison tends to overshadow The Inspection (after all no actor playing a tough Sergeant can compete with R. Lee Ermey who did that for Kubrick) but, even more importantly, we are reminded that Full Metal Jacket brilliantly captured and denounced the dehumanisation inherent in preparing men for war. Given that the experience of French is that of Bratton with the bullying making matters worse still and considering too how ironical it seems that a gay man’s motivation to join up should be his need to find a place where he can earn respect, one would expect Bratton’s film to deplore the macho world that it shows us. But, instead of that, the fact that French overcomes the abuse in all its forms leaves one with the impression that life in the Marines is being approved here.
If that seem surprising in the circumstances, so too does another fact. When, late on, French’s mother comes back into the story her behaviour becomes even worse but, despite the film’s devastating portrait of her, Bratton dedicates his film to his mother who died in 2020. Bratton's experiences involved much that would make for telling drama if the issues raised by it could in some way be discussed in the film itself, even if that meant inventing other characters able to talk to French about his feelings. There is one officer (Raúl Castillo) who for good reason is sympathetic to him, but he merely indicates that gay soldiers should conceal their sexuality. As for the rest, the men involved in the training on whatever level lack detailed personal characterisation and even French himself is without any real sense of individuality in spite of Pope’s able performance. The good work by him and by Union helps, but the abiding impression left by The Inspection is its relentless emphasis on a macho world which is wearisome to any viewer not drawn to it. One feels this all the more because the film fails on two scores that matter: it never brings out tellingly the eventual camaraderie which might help to explain why its tone ultimately seems to approve the lifestyle of a Marine and it never gets to grips with examining in any meaningful way the circumstances that can drive a gay man to choose such service as the only way that he can think of to win approval.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union, Bokeem Woodbine, Raúl Castillo, McCaul Lombardi, Nicholas Logan, Eman Esfandi, Anson Dominguez, Aubrey Joseph, Andrew Kai, Tyler Merrittt, Steve Mokate, Brad Napp.
Dir Elegance Bratton, Pro Chester Algernal Gordon and Effie Brown, Screenplay Elegance Bratton, Ph Lachlan Milne, Pro Des Tommy Love and Erik Louis Robert, Ed Oriana Soddu, Music Animal Collective, Costumes Fernando A. Rodriguez.
Freedom Principle/Gamechanger Films-Signature Entertainment.
95 mins. USA. 2022. US Rel: 18 November 2023. UK Rel: 17 February 2023. Cert. 15.
