WHITE BOY RICK
US, 2018, 111 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Mc Conaughey, Richie Merritt, Bel Powley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Tyree Henry, Rory Cochrane, Bruce Dern, Piper Laurie, RJ Cyler, Jonathan Majors, Eddie Marsan.
Directed by Yann Damange.
The setting is Detroit in the 1980s, a poor neighbourhood, drug dealing and gunrunning. It is based on a true story.
The title refers to Rick Wershe and his father, also called Rick. The father, played by Matthew Mc Conaughey, deals in illicit guns, reworking them for further sales. His teenage son, Rick, helps his father and does deals in selling the guns to local African- American drug dealers. He then becomes involved in dealing himself, making contacts, shrewd in the business.
He comes to the attention of FBI agents, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory Cochrane, who put pressure on him to become an informant. This means a dangerous life, his dealings with his drug dealing friends, secret meetings - leading to violence, betrayals and deaths.
However, he is young and inexperienced in many ways, wanting to help his father, becoming further involved in the world of drugs. Which means then that he is arrested, goes to trial, has been promised some immunity by the agents who then abandon him. Ultimately, he goes to prison, serving almost 30 years before being paroled – with the information that he is the longest serving prisoner for crimes of a non-violent nature.
While still in his mid teens, he discovers that he has become a father, devoted to his daughter (whom the credits inform has married and has two children).
Richie Merritt is persuasive, especially for a nonprofessional, as Rick. There is a strong supporting cast including British Bel Powley as his drug-addicted sister, and cameos from Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie as Rick’s grandparents. The film is been directed by Yann Demmange who directed the IRA film, ‘71.
1. Based on a true story and actual characters? A glimpse of the American past, Detroit in the 1980s? Gangsters, drugs, petty criminals? The FBI?
2. Detroit, the mid-1980s, the industrial collapse, building ruins, local neighbourhoods? Homes, clubs, markets? The glamorous side of Detroit with casinos, boxing tournaments? The musical score? Authentic feel for Detroit at the time?
3. The title, Rick, aged 14 to 17, the nickname from his black friends?
4. Rick and his father, the dead mother, Dawn, the family tensions?
5. Rick and his father, buying the guns, the workshop at home, modifying the guns, the silences? Rick taking them out, the gangster contacts, bargaining with the prices? Success? His friends in the black community, the bosses, young friends, keeping company? The young woman, his surprise to find that she was pregnant and the birth of his daughter? His involvement with drugs and dealing?
6. Rick’s father, Dawn calling him a lowlife, relationship with the law, guns, modifications, sales? His exasperation with Dawn, her boyfriend, her packing up and leaving? His relationship with Rick, devotion to him, loving but stern, his relationship with the FBI agents?
7. The FBI, the three agents, working together, discussions with Rick’s father, with Rick, the pressures, persuading him to get information, his feeding it to them, as a way of saving his father?
8. The attention to detail of Rick’s life, work, contacts, the drugs? The information for the FBI?
9. His relationship with Dawn, finding the bird for her, picked up by the agents, the pressure on him?
10. Dawn, her father getting her, the experience of cold turkey and its hardships, ill, her father bringing the television, her calming down?
11. Rick, the need for money, the payments from the FBI, his father finding the money? His dealing with the drugs? Becoming involved? The police? Rick being shot by his friend, in hospital, John Doe?
12. The final deals, discussions about dealers, corrupt police, Rick getting the information? The arrests? The FBI and their promise to get him out? The trial? The jury, the guilty verdict?
13. Rick in prison, Dawn bringing his daughter, his father’s visit?
14. The final information, the long sentence, Rick in prison for 30 years while the other criminals and corrupt police were released, justice issues? The final recording of his voice, released after 30 years, and the story of his daughter and her children?
