Just Talking To Their Diary
Director: F. Gary Gray
Release Date: 2015
Rating: 15
Running: 140 mins
Genre: Biography/Drama
Starring: O'Shea Jackson jr, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell
"Speak a little truth and people loose their minds"
F. Gary Gray gives us another fantastically well portrayed film, this time about the growth, success and breakup of the legendary Hip/Hop group N.W.A. We see some of our favourite rappers portrayed by a group of young, and incredibly talented actors, with a very similar likeness to the legends they're portraying. Including Ice Cube's own son, Oshea Jackson jr, taking on the role of..well, you can probably guess. Despite none of the actors having any serious acting roles in the past I've got to begin by saying, the boys nailed it.
As a film fanatic and massive N.W.A fan before the films release, when I finally came to seeing this biopic, I loved it. Straight Outta Compton was the type of biopic that showed audiences how you can start at the very bottom and still achieve stardom and success. The boys in N.W.A showed us, their passion and love of music as well as their anger with stereotypes and racism, showing us that despite your background, it's possible to escape the crime and danger around you to make something of yourself. You can only admire the musical abilities of the young guys, starting their own company, producing their own music and gaining almost instant success.
I've got to talk about one particular point to do with critics response to the film that I found actually rather startling. It's a point I didn't really pay much attention too until after viewing the film, that being that, despite the films highly successful appreciation from fans and audience members, not all critics were so full of praise. In fact, the popular film website IMDB have noticeably snubbed the films success by failing to add it to the site's top 250 film page, despite the film achieving a rating worthy of being on it. One argument reasoning why this has happened is, it 'promotes black crime and overall is a film showing the criminals coming out on top'. You have to argue therefore how films like The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino portrays white crime and are highly successfully and regularly re-watched and loved by audiences. The argument has to be, that these films show both a rise and a fall, whereas in Straight Outta Compton's case, there is a rise and then an escape of a demise, except (spoiler alert) of course for the tragic death of Eazy-E in '93 from AIDs. However, there are many films portraying white criminals who do actually come out on top or get away with it, such as Chicago, No Country for Old Men, the Hannibal/Silence of The Lambs film series and most famously The Usual Suspects. Arguably though, these are mearly stories, and the biographical element of Compton may questionably mean that its too much for some critics to therefore praise.
Nevertheless, this film is very much seen as an anti-police film, and is therefore incredibly controversial, but we could argue this fact about other anti-police films such as the critically acclaimed French '95 drama La Haine. Also showing the impact of police brutality and unfair treatment of those living in poor areas. We see the members of N.W.A all experience different forms of police brutality, like Ice Cube being randomly assaulted and unfairly searched right outside his own front door after being suspect of possesion, to Dr Dre being arrested when he claim after to be 'literally just standing there'. However, we have to look at the fact that this film was actually produced by Dr Dre and Ice Cube, and therefore its them recalling their own experiences, and in this case, you have to wonder if the figures portrayed in the film were wholly innocent, or is it almost an anti-police film out for revenge? Ice Cube and Dr Dre are shown to be the ones portrayed to be in some senses, upright, moral people who turned their back on the criminals in their lives. However, we know Ice Cube was an angry guy, and we're shown this when he smashes up his managers office with a baseball bat, and even Dr Dre is allegedly notorious for being a 'woman beater', so maybe they aren't as much the heroes we're shown on screen. It's a controversial topic, but I choose to believe that, the Hip/Hop role models I look up to, were truthfully shown and they're artists we can admire for this. Of course, no film is wholly truthful but I feel fans and myself included can look at this film as a fair representation of the groups struggles and successes.
What can be said about Staight Outta Compton is, it was a long anticipated film, that in turn did not disappoint. It's arguably one for the fans, much like the Biggie biopic Notorious. But there was something about this great film that Notorious lacked, and I think it's the story that what happened. It wasn't always in N.W.A's hands, and really, the guys were trying to escape the poverty in Compton and make the best of a bad situation. In this way, this film was highly captivating, even for the audiences that weren't N.W.A fans going in. Straight from the beginning scene before the title is hauntingly flashed up on the screen, I knew this was going to be more than just Hip/Hop artists, it would be a view into the real lives of those who grew up in the criminal ghetto: Compton and how some were able to rise above the crime by spreading an honest message. As a Hip/Hop fan myself, I feel like this film will do a lot for the controversial genre of music. It's now going to influence a younger audience who weren't aware of N.W.A first time around. You could see this as a marketing attempt from 'The worlds most dangerous group' to re-image themselves as people who inspire rather than agrevate, especially as it was released as the same time as Dr Dre's new album Compton, which is surely no accident. A quote from a recent N.W.A interview, done by current renowned rap artist Kendrick Lamar, showed DJ Yella stating "I think we're going to be more famous now than 26 years ago." Which is true. It says a lot about the power of film and how its able to manipulate us into watching the true story of this fascinating group of young artists.
It's an extremely disputable film and one that will definitely get people talking, even those yet to see it. But overall it's highly entertaining and surprisingly moving. Audiences won't guess from the almost, in some cases, comical songs from N.W.A, how dangerous their lives were. I myself didn't realise the extent of the police brutality, racism the boys faced. And despite knowing it was coming (Spoiler Alert), I found Eazy-E's death at the end so moving and harrowing that it's clear why Dre chooses to rap about his best friend so much in his music and keep his legacy going.
It's a film about friendship, making something from nothing and most importantly how powerful music can be, They group changed and revolutionised how music can be used to express themselves and say what so many others feared to say. It showed us the real start of the Hip/Hop we know today, and I feel that we're only going to see more from rappers and artists in years to come due to the legacy that N.W.A started. A great biopic that will have us talking for a long time to come.
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