IN his latest Netflix thriller Rebel Ridge, writer and director Jeremy Saulnier proves non-violence can be as powerful as violence in the face of police corruption, right from its opening sequence.
On his way to deliver the money to post his cousin’s bail, which would stop the latter from entering prison, United States Marine Corp veteran Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) is knocked off his bicycle by a Shelby Springs police cruiser.
Despite his explanation, the money is seized by corrupt police officers under suspicion of being drug currency.
As he repeatedly attempts to retrieve the money, the situation escalates in complexity as the scale of the police corruption pits Richmond and court clerk Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb) against Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson), the police chief of the Shelby Spring Police Department along with the other police officers.
Rebel Ridge then becomes Rambo: First Blood and Reacher, except without the gore and gratuitous violence.
Subversion of usual style
Saulnier is no freshman in building tension through action and dialogue, or even in filming realistic violence.
One of his previous films Green Room trapped its band of punk musician leads inside a neo-Nazi club with the white-knuckle thriller that leaving audiences on the edge of their seats and horrified at the amount of gore and violence in the film.
Shifting his gears for the first time here, Rebel Ridge is Saulnier’s first non-violent film, or rather, it is the first film by him where the lead character actively avoids violence. The subversion of his own style of filmmaking is refreshing.
As a Marine Corps veteran, it would have been logical had Saulnier turned Richmond into a black Rambo that psychologically snaps and enacts vengeance on evil white cops.
The audience would have welcomed and even cheered for it, especially with Pierre naturally towering over everyone at 191 cm in height and being in better shape than the uniformed doughnut-munchers.
Instead, the choice to turn Richmond into a pacifist proved to be far more entertaining.
Asymmetric warfare
There is no denying the gratification that would have come if Richmond just started shooting the corrupt officers, especially with how good Saulnier is when it comes to directing chaos.
But it was far more interesting to see Richmond use his size and Brazilian jiu-jitsu expertise in disarming and rag-dolling his opponents, along with the other strategic tools learned from his time in the military.
This choice in how Richmond’s actions are dictated by his moral compass, willpower and discipline also makes Rebel Ridge feel special because it demonstrates something that is sorely lacking in modern films and in the real world, where violence is often met with equal or more violence.
What happened to de-escalation or diplomacy, or matching violence with equally strong non-violence?
Though he comes from a film career paved with blood, gore and hyper-realistic violence, Saulnier answers that question with Rebel Ridge, which might be his strongest, most controlled film to date.
Rebel Ridge is streaming on Netflix.
