Review: Breaking

Directed by: Abi Damaris Corbin

Written by: Abi Damaris Corbin & Kwame Kwei-Armah

Starring: John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, Connie Britton, Jeffrey Donovan

Rating: [3/5]

Our country’s failure in taking care of veterans who have served this nation receives plenty of press, given how many end up homeless or taking their own lives. An unfortunate reality and one that often gets swept under the rug given the discomfort it causes when bringing it up. There’s no shortage of films discussing this topic, with Breaking standing as an example of how desperate these veterans find themselves to a truly sad degree. 

Walking into the local Wells Fargo branch, former Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega) threatens to blow it up if he does not receive his demands. Leaving only two employees in the bank with him, Brian holds them hostage until he receives what he is owed by the Veterans Affairs office. 

One cannot help but feel sad in watching what transpires in Breaking despite it having the structure of a heist film. Not necessarily one that has the slickness this genre has to offer but rather one focused on individual justice and how this man will seek to get his due. It gives off a similar feeling to Dog Day Afternoon while not nearly reaching the same quality, which not many films do. When it gets to a point in the film where the employees being held hostage begin to sympathize for their captor, you know it’s a different type of story we’re navigating. 

The more we learn about Brian’s circumstance, the more it becomes evident the difficulty veterans have in trying to assimilate back into normal everyday life. Brian encounters financial struggles where he grew more and more dependent on his disability check from the VA. As many people encounter when dealing with bureaucracy, this slow processing and nearly inhumane approach to the struggles of individuals can cut down the will of anyone. We see this specifically with Brian’s visit to a VA office where you see he’s not the only one struggling to get by, which only further visually displays a damning condemnation of this system. 

Other than that scene at the VA office, the majority of this film takes place within this bank, where Brian tries to persuade the cops and the chief negotiator to connect with the VA to get him his disability check. Now one would think surely they owe him a large sum, an amount he could retrieve from the bank but the issue, once again, does not lie in the financial but rather the principle of the manner. The fact this man felt he needed to get the attention of decision makers by holding up a bank really says it all, especially when he displays no real intent in taking any of the bank’s money. 

The stress in watching this film hinges on ultimately how this will all end. This film has its origins in a real-life person and this act but not knowing anything about the story leaves quite the question mark in how this will all resolve. Surely, with Brian threatening to blow up the bank if he does not get what he wishes, a happy ending could not be possible but in what way that transpires ultimately keeps you at the edge of your seat. There’s this sense of finality and high stakes in Brian’s actions, knowing that no matter what he will not have the life he had prior to this incident ever again. Even in the best-case scenario where he gets exactly what he wants one cannot imagine the repercussions involved in this drastic action.

Leading the line we have a strong performance by John Boyega who since breaking out from Star Wars continues to demonstrate his talent. He displays the desperate nature of this character exquisitely well and gets paired well with some strong supporting performances given by Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, and the late great Michael Kenneth Williams in one of his final roles. Their characters all try to make the best out of this situation for Brian, knowing the inevitability of it all, which adds a nuanced layer as they continue to grow in sympathy for him. 

Difficult to take in but still quite meaningful, Breaking shines a light on the plight of veterans and the way they can get swept away because of negligence. Bad paperwork leads to someone acting out in the most desperate of ways, as we see in this film. A heist not for financial gain, but rather a principled purpose.