Why ‘The Inspection’ Is a Powerful Testament to Courage and Self-Love
A Vital Film With a Star-Making Performance
Image by A24
As we head into the last stretch of awards season, let’s close our inaugural month with a standout performance.
Accomplished theater actor Jeremy Pope personifies grace and courage in Elegance Bratton’s awe-inspiring account of bravery and self-love.
Bratton makes his directorial debut with tragic events based on his life, which he transcends into an uplifting underdog story.
Inez French (Gabrielle Union), a religious, homophobic mother, rejects her young Black gay son, Ellis French (Pope), who spends several years homeless until he enlists in the US Marine Corps.
Early in the film, Ellis returns to his mother’s home to retrieve his birth certificate so he can complete his enrollment in the Marines.
He cautiously approaches her NY walk-up-style apartment, and his mother reluctantly opens the door.
Inez looks at Ellis with complete disgust and disappointment. She sees her son as a contagious poison she doesn’t want, even placing a newspaper on her cluttered couch before allowing him to sit.
Their exchange is tense.
Ellis, a battered and broken son, asks Inez, his sanctimonious, judgemental mother, for one last favor. His body quivers as she stiffens in shock.
Inez doesn’t answer.
She walks into her tiny, cramped kitchen, stirring pots stuffed with comfort food.
For her, the soothing, succulent aromas evoke fond memories of a better time and place in their lives, one when Ellis was younger and unaware of his sexual identity.
As she returns to Ellis, her demeanor changes. The sliver of peace she felt in the kitchen vanishes. Hatred replaces happiness, and her ire slices through Ellis’ heart like a sharp blade.
Inez hands Ellis his ticket to freedom, along with an ultimatum: return as the heterosexual son she remembers, or don’t bother coming back.
This fraught, disapproving Black mother and vulnerable Black gay son relationship drive the core of Elegance Bratton’s striking, bittersweet semi-autobiographical film.
Pope is the breakout star in Bratton’s transformational story.
In his first leading role on the big screen, Pope owns each scene, showing his immense range as a performer.
Ellis’ path is triggering and traumatic.
He joins the Marines to win back his mother’s love, where he faces relentless homophobia and survives a near-fatal hazing incident during the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era.
Ellis develops formidable fortitude and impenetrable self-worth while enduring this harrowing experience.
Pope channels raw, tender vulnerability when portraying the complex obstacles and towering depths Ellis overcomes.
He also emits a burgeoning confidence when reaching milestones he never thought were possible.
Pope balances moments of overwhelming despair with intense exhalations that release the hefty weight Ellis carries.
His impassioned performance imbues Ellis with a profound compassion that illuminates the screen and commands our attention.
Pope delivers an award-worthy, career-topping performance. While the two-time Tony Award and Grammy nominee didn’t receive an Oscar nomination, he solidifies himself as a bona fide star.
Union’s portrayal of Inez also deserves respect.
She reinvents herself onscreen by becoming an acrimonious mother with disdain in her battle-tested heart.
For the first time in decades, a filmmaker allows Union to break free from the typecasting Hollywood has forced upon her.
While Union shines, Pope’s breakthrough performance elevates Bratton’s poetic film into a socially relevant work of art.
Image by A24
A gut-wrenching inspirational story of resilience.
Elegance Bratton writes and directs this stirring American drama.
He drew upon his experiences as a former Marine to pen the script for this visually raw film imbued with profound social commentary.
Bratton relinquishes his inner demons to show audiences that self-love and empathy aren’t the destinations. They are the essential components of a life-changing journey.
He was once part of a growing LGBTQ+ homeless population before joining the Marines and becoming a combat filmmaker.
In a 2018 interview with the New York Times, the publication explains Bratton’s writing process for The Inspection. Bratton describes the film in his own words.
“If Mr. Bratton’s biography — from homeless youth to closeted military brat to Ivy League-educated filmmaker — sounds like a Hollywood screenplay, that’s because he is writing it as part of a script lab at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He calls it ‘Full Metal Jacket’ meets ‘Moonlight.’” - The New York Times
The military isn’t some generational legacy for Black and brown LGBTQ+ youth. They join as a last resort chance at a decent life.
“LGBT youth had a 120% higher risk of experiencing homelessness than youth who identified as heterosexual and cisgender.” - The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
For them, military service is the culmination of a long thorny road with unbearable, rough terrain.
Despite the toxic environment, the exquisite depth of Bratton’s screenplay imparts how the duty and honor associated with serving give Ellis a sense of purpose and validation. These are two things he never received from Inez or the world of his youth.
Like many in a similar situation, Ellis makes the best of abhorrent circumstances by tapping into a fearless inner strength.
While the military’s tough love almost breaks Ellis, his unwavering will and perseverance ultimately save him.
The Inspection is Bratton’s poignant appeal to mothers like Inez.
Through redemption and healing, Bratton attempts to reconcile his difficult relationship with his mother.
He scrutinizes delicate layers of intimacy and strife that extend beyond the practice battlefield and into the tiny kitchen of a humble NY apartment.
Bratton requires acceptance and forgiveness, not of himself but of her.
His self-exploration doesn’t indict the homophobic, abusive military culture. Instead, he uses this cathartic exercise to profess his love and respect for an unbreakable mother-son bond.
This tortured familial conflict of broken faith, love, and trust is why Bratton humanizes his mother and concludes his devastatingly beautiful film with their photos.
Bratton’s mother passed three days before they green-lit the film. He dedicates the film to her and cannot re-watch it before Q&As because he still grieves her loss.
The Inspection is his desperate plea to mothers of LGBTQ+ youth. A chance for them to make amends while they still can.
He also underscores the resiliency of the human spirit to survive and endure. This produces an empowering effect, especially among this vulnerable population and the people responsible for protecting them.
The gravity of Bratton’s private turmoil, combined with Pope’s stunning performance, makes The Inspection a bona fide cinematic triumph.
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