Power

Yance Ford's documentary explores how policing in America has expanded in scope, scale, and dominance since the country's founding. Like 13th and Body Parts, Power tries to cram a colossal amount of history into a feature-length film. But, wow, this is barely a feature film. Power feels like a passive YouTube essay hastily and sloppily assembled from public domain footage rather than a provocative investigation of a critical subject by an acclaimed, Oscar-nominated documentarian. Most of the archival footage is generic and incapable of stirring our emotions. The one exception is a cheezy promo film called Polcie, hosted by a cigarillo-smacking Ben Gazara, which evokes some awkward laughs. The failure of the movie to evoke much of any reaction other than boredom is amazing, especially when you consider how many vital, eye-opening documentaries about police have been released in recent years. From historical lookbacks like Attica and Hold Your Fire to contemporary films like Whose Streets and The Force, the wealth of footage and interviews available to documentary filmmakers has been amazing. That makes it all the more baffling to see such a dry, internet-level academic movie about a volatile and passionate issue.