Sundance 2021: At the Ready
sundance 2021Maisie Crow's sophomore feature documentary At the Ready continues the young director's aspirations to capture some of the most controversial sides of American society by giving an unbiased look at events that are happening and allowing the subjects from both sides to speak for themselves. Whilst her first feature, Jackson, focused on the pro-life Vs. pro-choice debate, At the Ready sees Crow switch her focus from women's reproductive rights to law enforcement. Taking the audience into an El Paso where school programs give students a head start in law enforcement, the film gives a voice to those who believe fully in the modern law enforcement system specifically when it comes to border control, while also showing how their ideologies change and grow with various political events and movements.
One of the most impressive accomplishments of the film is its ability to humanise the parties involved. With the film's release coming shortly after the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter, the conversation around law enforcement, for better or for worse, has become simplified and seemingly united when it comes to the opposition with the slogan A.C.A.B. (All Cops Are Bastards) sending a clear and unrelenting message towards the profession. Whilst a room covered in Blue Lives Matter flags filled with individuals celebrating being able to vote for Ted Cruz might be a massive turnoff for plenty, Crow doesn't give up and pushes to see who these people are beyond their beliefs. What this finds is both moving and terrifying. Where the film does plenty to humanise these individuals and show them as people simply fighting for what they see is right, it also casually exposes major flaws within the system. When it comes to individuals on the front lines of supposedly protecting the nation, the major selling points of the job shouldn't be the income and the rush of action yet the film shows both these things to be leading contenders in why people go into the field.
In this one of the key issues of At the Ready is found: its lack of true commentary. Naturally, the film is able to find intriguing angles and conversations but drops the ball when it comes to actually truly exploring these. Mainly in its efforts to be as non-judgmental as possible – at least for a good amount of the runtime – the film seemingly accepts the flaws in the system and moves on like they are nothing. These are large issues that need to be addressed and if the film was willing to push its subjects, it could easily contain a standout conversation regarding these talking points but it simply doesn't. Even by the end when the narrative starts to push back at the idea of law enforcement, specifically by following the journey of a young girl from the program who is coming to terms with her sexuality and is clearly leaning left politically until she simply doesn't want anything to do with the program morally, the film can feel under baked and lacking in true conclusions. The ending itself is also quite frustrating, as the film gets rid of the nuance it has spent nearly the entire 96-minute runtime and presents the issue as the left Vs. the right.
Another key flaw within the film is simply when it is being released. The film largely relies on the clearly racist and unacceptable action of then-president Donald Trump as well as the 2018 Senate race between Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz for catalysts regarding an exploration of morals within the law enforcement but, clearly, the conversation has changed in recent months. The idea of capturing the modern law enforcement world without including the events and aftermath of the modern Black Lives Matter movement feels like a clear misstep and immediately lessens the actual conversation of the film. Even the iconography of the Blue Lives Matter flag has drastically changed in meaning and message and it would be incredibly interesting to see how the individuals featured throughout the film personally responded to these events. Whilst this is not really the film's fault, considering there was no way to know what was on the horizon, it does undeniably affect the viewing experience and effectiveness of the project.
Still, even if At the Ready ultimately doesn't make the most of its perspective, the film is far from disastrous or even bad. The film has enough to keep the audience engaged and for those who can critically think about what they are seeing, there are enough insights throughout the film to give some worthy takeaways and provide interesting insights on the subject matter.
