Highly, highly recommended.
While features like IT, Guardians of the Galaxy and Stranger Things view the ’80s with nostalgia and affection, the reality of the period in US society was markedly different.
California was almost a perfect microcosm of the country because social and political issues like gun and drug culture, police brutality and gang warfare were extremely prevalent.
It’s often said that great art comes through suffering and in the mid-1980s, the streets of Compton, California, were some of the most dangerous in the country.
When five young men translated their experiences of growing up in this environment into brutally honest music that rebelled against authority, they gave an explosive voice to a large group of minorities that were previously silenced.
Following the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton depicts the incredible story of how these young men revolutionised music by telling the world about their lives in the hood.
Even if you’re not a massive hip hop fan, F Gary Gray’s film feels like a wonderful hybrid of a music biopic that’s mixed with a superhero film. You know, if everything was being run by Suge Knight!
Variety hit the nail on the head by describing Straight Outta Compton as “undeniably of the moment, it’s also timeless in its depiction of how artists and writers transform the world around them into angry, profane, vibrant and singular personal expression”.
In simplistic terms, it’s a rags to riches tale about how a group of young men found their place in the world.
It just so happens that by doing this, DJ Yella , Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Dr. Dre stuck two fingers up at their haters and pissed off a lot of people in the process.
In their review, The Express stated that the film “never feels less than authentic, directed with energy by F Gary Gray and acted superbly,” while Empire added that it is “potent and visceral in its depiction of street life and blinged-up excess alike, Straight Outta Compton delivers big beats of both kinds”.
After watching Straight Outta Compton, you can’t help but feel that it’s of its time and massively influential.
This point is emphasised by Rolling Stone when they noted that “this movie burns so hot that it’s bound to run out of steam. It does. But what stands is an amazement, an electrifying piece of hip-hop history that speaks urgently to right now”.
The film is not without its flaws – the group’s lyrical misogyny and homophobia is rarely mentioned – but if you’re looking for an underdog story that’s extremely relevant to the modern world, this is it.
87% on Rotten Tomatoes, Oscar-nominated and the recipient of the AFI Award for the Movie of the Year.
Check it out.
Clip via Universal Pictures
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