‘American Son’ on Netflix Shows the Side of Police Brutality You Don’t See on Twitter

American Son on Netflix may not be as well-known as other titles that subscribers are turning to help process police brutality in America following the death of George Floyd. But not only is American Son fiercely relevant to the national conversation regarding police shootings and racism, it also offers a valuable perspective rarely seen on social media. And that’s the prolonged, quiet agony that is left behind.

Directed by Kenny Leon and written by Christopher Demos-Brown, American Son was first a critically-acclaimed 2018 Broadway play starring Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, and Eugene Lee, which came to Netflix as an “original film” last September. Little was changed in the transition to Netflix film—same cast, same director, same script—so before you queue up American Son, you should be prepared to watch what is essentially a play, not a film. The entire story takes place in a police precinct, and the cast consists of only four characters. Kendra Ellis-Connor (Washington) and Scott Connor (Pasquale), are a mother and father desperate for news of their missing 18-year-old son, Jamal, who may or may not have been involved in an incident with police where shots were fired. Officer Larkin (Jordan) is a white police officer who dismisses their concerns, while Lieutenant John Stokes (Lee) is a black officer who doesn’t—but who also offers a warped, disturbing perspective on systemic racism.

Never once in American Son do we see Jamal or his confrontation with police. Instead, the focus is entirely on the pain of his parents. If you love Washington in Scandal, get ready, because her performance of a mother growing increasingly desperate as the night wears on is heartbreaking, to say the least. The white officer, and even her white husband, do not, and cannot seem to understand what she does—that the police are a far greater threat to her black son than any of his rule-breaking friends. She paces, and cries, and screams, and we endure every minute of this terrible, terrible night with her.

What American Son gives audiences is 90 minutes to sit with that pain and anxiety. When it first debuted, the film was criticized for being too heavy-handed; too preachy. But is that not what those of us who are striving to understand this moment in history fully—particularly those of us who are white—are looking for? American Son will remind you that, while you’re scrolling through a Twitter feed filled with videos of police violence and protests, the killings of black women and men come with an agony that cannot be condensed into bite-sized, shareable pieces. It’s important to get fired up about injustice and it’s important to demand systemic change, but it’s also important to grieve the loss of human life. That’s the unique insight American Son has to offer.

Watch American Son on Netflix