“The Blood is at the Doorstep” Provides Comfort and Closure

It’s challenging to put into words what The Blood is at the Doorstep is like, even as the film premiered as a centerpiece screening during the Milwaukee Film Festival last week. Firstly, you have all of the emotions before watching the film. The killing of Dontre Hamilton by MPD officer Christopher Manney in 2014 sparked pain and outcry for the entire city of Milwaukee. Then, there’s the aftermath, which by the looks of the prior events, is something that does not seem to exist.

Ironically, this is what The Blood is at the Doorstep is like. The film is set in the aftermath of the killing. Taking on this seemingly impossible thing such as an aftermath leaves us with no choice but to face these difficult situations, no matter how impossible and even without regard to how you are going to make this possible. Ultimately, by this courage and opportunity, the possibilities appear. Furthermore, it is this courage equipped with the fact that the film tells us that it is going to do this.

The film opens with a quote from James Baldwin, which tell us this very thing: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” The paradoxes can only build and keep getting better and better mounted off of this necessary guidance. Some of the emotions prior to the film seem to settle into a place of genius, art, perspective, and even justice once we know this great purpose of the film. Genius, art, perspective, and justice, are just some of the things that I want to say this film provides.

Erik Ljung, the director and producer, went out on a mission and accomplished it by going above and beyond it. The whole premise of the film is a unique one. Beginning just months since the fateful shooting-death, Ljung began following the Hamilton family – made up of Dontre’s mother, father, and two brothers. Within this rigorous frame of time, Ljung is able to capture the sincere moments where the family is left with a string of questions. The film adheres to this particular frame, and this relates the film in a profound way. When we assume that we are in for a suspense thriller, some of these questions that the family has finds solace in the confines of a raw documentary that Ljung has presented. The confines of time and authenticity grants us access to the what’s, when’s, where’s, how’s, and why’s, which should exist in solving a case such as this. These elements grant us access to the most important aspects of the case. Who is Dontre Hamilton? The officer? What happened? How did this lead to death? Why? Why then? Why there? Why 14 shots?

Ljung does an interesting thing that helps us answer these questions. He introduces other cases of police violence against unarmed citizens. In attempting to solve this unspeakable crime, we have no choice in looking toward the cases of others. Revealing stories from its beginning to its aftermath, Ljung does this without restraint.

There are insurmountable amounts of shooting deaths by the hands of police across cities like Milwaukee, and it is this knowledge that grabs your attention in Ljung’s film. Ljung’s genius shows in turning this broad situation inward toward the homes of families who have faced everything firsthand. Ljung makes families like Dontre’s a priority by showing footage of the cases of Corey Stingley and Michael Bell Jr. The raw footage exposes the extent of the interaction between police and citizens. Stingley, 16 years old, was murdered following an incident at a convenience store. Bell, 21, was murdered following an incident with police at a traffic stop in Kenosha. These are local stories like Dontre’s, which hits home. These are stories which are exactly like Dontre’s, in that innocent citizens have fallen victim to police with a lack of accountability being taken for these actions. Through these connections, we come to understand that this is not just any kind of blood, but blood at the doorstep.

The art of this film shines in the will to familiarize these situations for our understanding of the story. There is so much to say in The Blood is at the Doorstep, but blood splatters and the victims of it are fighting for their lives in this film, making this film the true depiction that it is. What was once a breaking news story is now a groundbreaking documentary film through the desire to tell the story, and it is clear that the shots were able to be taken out of this desire and nothing else but this desire. Out of this desire, interviews and footage take up most of the direction of this film. Out of this desire, the Hamilton family tells their own story. Dontre’s mother, Maria Hamilton, stands up for the identity of her son, confirming that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nate Hamilton, Dontre’s brother, stands up for the portrayal of his brother in the media, confirming that he was neither a thief or homeless. The interviews and footage – some shot up to the finalization of the film this year – add up to the validity and accuracy of the Hamilton family’s story. It does not take long to recognize what The Blood is at the Doorstep wants you to see, and instead of looking away, you look closer and deeper.

Everyone and everything gets their involvement in the film, even Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Ed Flynn, who stayed in connection with the entire case. The severity of the crime opened the case to several point of views, and to honor the part that POV played solidifies the significance of the case. The Hamilton family’s daily life is interrupted by murder, which entails protest, answers from the police and help from the mayor. Flynn’s explanation attempts to put the events of one day into perspective. Barrett’s defense of the family in a press conference gives a different perspective altogether that the case needed. The Hamilton family pushes through it all.

And action: justice is on. By the end, there is a moment where the death sinks in, but you realize that a family is not alone in their grief or despair. This fact stares at you from across the screen just like the Baldwin quote in the beginning. It stands out like the color of blood. It looks and sounds like protest. Everywhere you look, there is Dontre’s story. The story is filled with tears, smiles, family, community, and police. The story is sorted out that way. When you look at this story, you see a search for justice. And in this search, we know that if it is not justice, it is at least the love and hope of justice that will propel us toward justice.

This film is a centerpiece for Milwaukee. For all those who went to the rallies, demonstrations, and protests, this film is for you. For the Milwaukeeans who went to the screening, this film is for you. For Ferguson, New York, and Florida, this film is for you. This film is for Dontre Hamilton, Corey Stingley, Michael Bell, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Gardner. For the loved ones – mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters – this film is for you.