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SLIFF 2015 Review – 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS – We Are Movie Geeks

Review

SLIFF 2015 Review – 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS

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This award-winning documentary focuses on an issue still making headlines and filling up hours on the TV news. 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN MINUTES concerns the killing of an African-American 17 year-old high schooler Jordan Davis, not by police officers, but by a legally armed citizen, 45 year-old white software designer Mike Dunn. The location of the incident aligns the story with another famous case. It all took place at a gas station/market in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday, November 23, 2012 (the day after Thanksgiving known to retailers as “Black Friday”). Dunn and his attorney cited the “stand your ground” defense, based on the state’s controversial law that helped acquit George Zimmerman of criminal charges in the shooting of black teenager Trayvon Martin. On that night, Jordan was sitting in the back seat of an SUV driven by Tommie Stornes (Tevin Thomson and Leland Brunson were the other passengers). As Stornes left the vehicle to make a purchase inside the store, the music was playing at a high volume. Mike Dunn’s car pulled alongside in the next parking space. After Dunn’s fiancée went inside the store to buy a bottle of wine and some chips, he asked the young men to turn the music down. One of them complied, but Davis insisted the music resume at the same level. A heated angry exchange ensued between Dunn and Davis, ending when the older man pulled his handgun from his car’s glove compartment and fired ten bullets into the SUV, several of which struck and killed Davis. The incident quickly became known in the news media as “the loud music killing”.

Writer/director Marc Silver trains his camera, from the opening scenes, on the parents of Jordan: Lucia McBath and Ron Davis. Though divorced, the two are united in their quest for justice. They make a powerful team as they sit in on every day of the long court proceedings. Silver provides individual interviews as they share their memories of Jordan, and their struggle to keep him out of danger. The friends who joined him that night also offer many funny stories, but when that Friday is brought up, the high spirits abruptly end. We also get to meet the young woman who caught Jordan’s eye. She tells of his visit to her, at her retail job earlier that night. The real meat of the story is the riveting courtroom footage that Silver has expertly edited. It’s where we finally meet Dunn, through his time on the stand and the legally recorded phone conversations from jail to his fiancée Rhonda Rouer (who seems to be a basket of nerves in court). He’s stunned that anyone can question his version of the night (“I’m the real victim”). Luckily, his defence is legal pitbull Cory Strolla, who works hard to place doubt at the experts, and most harshly at the investigators. Although the outcome was decided last year, Silver still makes this a riveting courtroom drama. Hopeful and heartbreaking, 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS is also masterful and unforgettable.

3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS screens at 7:30 PM on Friday, November 6 at Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium as part of the 24th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival. Admission is free, with Ron Davis and Lucia McBath in attendance.

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Jim Batts was a contestant on the movie edition of TV's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in 2009 and has been a member of the St. Louis Film Critics organization since 2013.