We Own This City
2022
Original language: English
- crime
- drama
The story
The story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force — and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work.
What it’s like
Grey, rain-streaked Baltimore streets, dim unit rooms lit by cold fluorescents and the blue glow of wiretap monitors, and the sweaty, smoke-hazed interiors of strip clubs and car interiors after dark. David Simon's camera works in handheld, documentary-adjacent takes that stay close to faces and rarely cut away from the grind of ordinary procedure: paperwork, surveillance vans, bodies waiting in parking lots. The soundtrack is sparse, mostly ambient street noise, radio chatter and police scanners, with little score to cushion the scenes. The vibe is bleak, weary and morally heavy, a slow-burning unease that suits a late night alone or a long, uninterrupted sitting when you want to be absorbed rather than entertained. The pacing is deliberate and procedural, with people's arcs tracing a steady slide from pride into rationalization and then into ruin, particularly a veteran officer hardening over time. Violence is present and sometimes sudden, including police brutality, shootings and murders, but it is realistic rather than stylised, and the drug trade and organised crime bring a constant tension of threat. Intensity is high in emotional and moral terms, with a fair amount of profanity and some sexual content in the strip-club settings. It is made for viewers who want serious, adult crime drama with a documentary sensibility and an interest in institutions and how they fail.
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