Caleb - Week 9 - Rebel Ridge and Power

Seeing the prompt of simply the word power made me think back to a movie I watched about a week ago. This movie is the Netflix original, Rebel Ridge, starring popular actor Aaron Pierre. In the movie, Pierre’s character who is named Terry Richmond gets into an altercation with a police officer which soon escalates into the police officer illegally searching his vehicle and finding tens of thousands of dollars in cash found in a bag. The bag was there because Richmond planned to bail his cousin out of jail with the money but the police officer decided to “confiscate” the bag. As the movie progresses, the entire police force of the small southern town abuses their power to make sure this man does not get his money back.

Source: https://www.netflix.com/title/81157729

    Now that I gave a short introduction to the movie I can expand on its connection to the idea of power. The movie depicts the lengths people will go to in order to do what they believe is right and in a place of authority which could sometimes result in power tripping. These officers unjustly used their power, which includes the arsenal of this police force to fight this strong headed, military-trained individual. These officers ram their vehicles into Richmond’s, shoot at him as he is driving, and assault him on many occasions all because he tried to get his money back. This movie not only was incredibly interesting and it also gave me a different perspective on how these police officers who are there to serve and protect us (don’t get me wrong, I still completely understand that the vast majority of them work to fulfill these duties) may do otherwise when it is in their own interest. 

Comments

  1. Francis GarciaJanuary 22, 2025 at 8:40 PM

    Hi Caleb, I have never heard of the movie Rebel Ridge, but it is interesting that it taps into the unfortunately known issue of police officers abusing their authority as public defenders. I am aware that there are officers who commit to police brutality based around racism, but I do forget that there are other ways and grounds aside from racism that authority figures like them misuse their power with and on. I believe there should be reform around this behavior, and I think a good step towards the right direction would be to redefine what power means and how an authority figure should handle such power to help others. Narrowing into the example you provided in the beginning of your blog post, the film does pique my interest as it seems to share similarities with The Hate U Give, in terms of the plot, so Rebel Ridge is definitely going on my Netflix watch list!

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  2. SabiKatJanuary 22, 2025 at 8:42 PM

    Hi Caleb! I like how you brought the topic of Power to a more relevant level by associating it with a TV show, then using an example from that show to create a larger point. The topic of people in positions of authority abusing their power is an important and highly relevant one, especially in association with the recent change in presidential power and police brutality controversy. In some cases, police officers may have, arguably, too much power, while in others, they may have the perfect amount. The distinction lies in the character of the individual, which goes to show the importance of giving power to the right people. All in all, I think you did a great job bringing this topic to light through citing a relevant TV show to go with it.

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