Do Not Resist

There is a useful directness to Do Not Resist, a documentary shaped by Craig Atkinson with a firm understanding of its audience. In Do Not Resist, Richard Berk provides the anchor while James Comey introduces a contrasting energy. Without revealing later complications, Do Not Resist opens from this situation: An account of the increasing use of military weapons and tactics by local law enforcement in the United States, counterpointed with civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. The resulting its 1h 12m running time feels most convincing whenever Do Not Resist trusts behaviour more than explanation.

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The craft of Do Not Resist is defined by patient observation, supported by patient observation rather than overwhelmed by decoration. Vanish Films gives Do Not Resist a production framework in which carefully chosen testimony can remain connected to story. Made from a United States production context, Do Not Resist uses setting and design to clarify mood before dialogue has to explain it. The technical finish of Do Not Resist works because image, sound and editing appear to be serving the same immediate purpose.

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Richard Berk gives Do Not Resist its most dependable performance, finding a clear emotional intention beneath the plot. Opposite Richard Berk, James Comey brings Do Not Resist a contrasting pace that prevents the central relationship from feeling flat. Dave Grossman widens the ensemble of Do Not Resist through reactions that suggest a life beyond the immediate scene. Craig Atkinson serves the cast of Do Not Resist best when a look or pause is allowed to finish before the story moves on.

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The central idea running through Do Not Resist concerns the tension between public stories and private experience. Richard Berk gives that idea a human scale, allowing Do Not Resist to remain accessible even when its world becomes larger. By returning to Missouri, Do Not Resist turns theme into a source of pressure rather than a message waiting to be delivered. The handling by Craig Atkinson lets Do Not Resist leave a little interpretive room, which gives its better scenes an afterlife.

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At story level, Do Not Resist turns United States and Ferguson into the source of its main tension. The role played by Richard Berk becomes the viewer's route through Do Not Resist, especially when Missouri begins to alter the situation. Richard Berk gives Do Not Resist momentum by allowing choices to create consequences instead of treating each scene as isolated information. Even when Michael Brown pushes the plot toward familiar ground, Do Not Resist remains attentive to what that pressure means for its characters.

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Craig Atkinson shapes Do Not Resist with an approach that feels careful about tone and generally effective. The best directed passages in Do Not Resist establish an objective, let the characters respond and then allow the pressure to change naturally. The film delivers more often than it misses in Do Not Resist, particularly when Craig Atkinson resists the urge to underline an already clear emotion. My main reservation about Do Not Resist is that the middle loses a little urgency, a limitation that interrupts rather than defines the experience.

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Taken as a whole, Do Not Resist is a likeable film whose strengths survive its limitations for viewers who enjoy thoughtful factual storytelling. Do Not Resist leaves its strongest impression through patient observation, the work of Richard Berk and a clear understanding of tone. The limitations around how the middle loses a little urgency should be acknowledged, but they do not erase what Do Not Resist does well. I would return to Do Not Resist for its personality and its willingness to connect genre pleasure with recognisable feeling.