White cops shooting unarmed black men is a hot topic in the news these days, mostly because it just. Keeps. HAPPENING. But lest we forget, civilians have also gotten into the act. Marc Silver's documentary 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets looks at the lesser-known of the two 2012 incidents of armed white Floridians shooting unarmed black teenagers. On Black Friday at a Jacksonville service station, middle-aged Michael Dunn shot 10 times at a car of unarmed black teenagers, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who had not politely complied when his doughy elder demanded that they turn down the hip-hop on their stereo. (When his then-fiancée later testified that he'd referred to it as "thug music," Dunn insisted he'd actually called it "rap crap." Good save!) Dunn claimed that Jordan threatened him with a shotgun, which would have given Dunn a solid defense thanks to Florida's indefensible "Stand Your Ground" law. Determining the truth is at the heart of the as-it-happens 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets, which is primarily footage from the trial interspersed with Jordan's parents trying to get on with their lives. It's a matter of public record that Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in October 2014, but that makes 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets no less suspenseful, and certainly no less heartbreaking.
Tags: Film
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