The Slow Hustle (2021) User Reviews

Bad tidings in the Baltimore Police Department

[paul-allaer · 6/10 · 10 December 2021]

As "The Slow Hustle" (2021 release; 88 min.) opens, it's "November 15, 2017" and we hear a frantic 911 call about a Baltimore police officer having been shot, and we then get the body cam footage as cops arrive on the scene. African-American police officer Sean Suiter is pronounced dead soon thereafter. Who did this? How is this going to be investigated? At this point we are less than 10 min into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from Baltimore actress turned director turned activist Sonja Sohn. Now 4 years since the death of Sean Suiter, she reassesses what happened in 2017 and in the years running up to those events. It ain't a pretty picture. The Baltimore Police Department is reeling from the 2015 Freddie Gray murder and social unrest, and also from massive corruption, resulting in 8 cops being indicted in early 2017. And what then about Sean Suiter's death? Multiple theories are advanced, which Sohn examines carefully, including by letting talking heads like a seasoned Baltimore Sun reporter and local TV reports give their independent perspective (I don't want to spoil and hence won't say any more on this). But the overall sense and picture is of a large police department being engulfed by corruption and dirty cops, with little to no regard for the population that it is supposed to serve. For shame.

"The Slow Hustle" premiered on HBO a few days ago, and is now available on HBO On Demand, HBO Max (where I caught it) and eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. If you are interested in the role of a large police department within its own community, while also looking at the mysterious death of one of their own, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

"This is Baltimore. Don't be surprised by anything that happens here."

[aarpcats · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

Most documentaries follow the the literary formula established by Gay Tálese in print journalism. They set forth a series of facts molded into the kind of story familiar to all of us from fiction. The camera follows a character on a quest for information through a series of events and ends with some kind of emotional pay off.

In this story, the widow of Baltimore police officer Sean Suiter tries to find out who killed her husband. The film begins as Suiter's partner calls 911 to report that he has been shot in the head, and the viewer watches through a body cam as a tape of his partner's panicked voice plays in the background.

What follows is a funeral with honors where Baltimore's finest honors one of its own. He is praised by cops and politicians.

And then we get to the real story. It's likely that Suiter was not only murdered by another cop, but that, he will never have justice. His wife knows it, the filmmaker knows it and, by the end of the movie, so does the audience.

As it turns out, for ever Serpico who becomes a hero at fighting corruption, there are countless Sean Suiters. And the corruption still wins.

Actress and director Sonja Sohn does an excellent job of showing how a high profile murder can go unsolved in a city like Baltimore. She doesn't care about where the viewer wants the story to go, or even what the viewer thinks. She tells the story, shows the human toll, and reminds us that corruption is bottomless.

At times, it's a tough watch, but imagine how tough it is for Sean Suitor's family.

Common Sense

[Astaroth22 · 6/10 · 31 January 2022]

When everyone in charge are black, then label the system "racist?" Enough already! This case has nothing to do with race. Fact is, no race, ethnicity, gender, or religion is immune from wrong doing and/or corruption. People are people. It's pretty simple if you think about it.

So we have three shots with two in the air and one in the head. All brass belong to the service weapon. What cop is trained to discharge their weapon in the air? The answer is NONE. Not for ANY reason whatsoever. The doc was very light on the specific forensics and that should tell you something. Kinda like the assertion that Suiter was going to testify "against" someone. Really? The documentary itself disproves this notion as we learned he refused to cooperate with the FBI. So they subpoenaed him to testify. We have no idea what he was going to say - if anything. Meanwhile, Gondo WAS cooperating... Anyone shoot him in the head? No. Anyone shank him in jail? No. How about the guards - did they lump him up at least? No.

Incarceration, ego, embarrassment, and family. Any one of these four things could prompt a suicide. Think about the odds when all apply. People here actually knock the obvious but embrace the one in a million possibility and actually want to be taken seriously? For his friends and family I get it. But for everyone else - not so much.

Interesting true life mystery of a police officer

[varminttank · 6/10 · 11 August 2022]

I enjoyed the filming and story of this mystery. But I didn't care for the racist narrative in it.. but all and all it was a decent documentary. Prayers to the family.

It was a Suic!de - in my opinion

[You_PopCorn_ · 8/10 · 11 July 2022]

Detective Suiter was a corrupt/dirty cop.

He knew he was headed to prison and wanted his wife (who I believe,knew about his criminal behavior) to have financial stability, instead of visiting him in prison. He staged his suic!de to look like a murder.

Why would his criminal partners want him dead? He refused to talk to investigators.

Don't you think Detective Gando would be the target ? He's the one who agreed to testify against EVERYONE.

Detective Gando's testimony was like a nuclear blast against the entire department, his testimony was also broadcast to the world in real time. There was no hiding or covering up his testimony. Wouldn't he be the ideal target?

It's shameful that Detective Suiters wife got $900,000 from the police department. I guess that's exactly what Suiter wanted.

This was a good documentary.

Good directing and visuals.

The into song was beautiful and haunting.

Relatively interesting

[GoreObsessed · 5/10 · 30 December 2021]

Relatively interesting and coherent execution with entertaining footage, but I don't see the relevance of Dwight Watkins, who seems to own bitter and racist views.

Police Motto Around The World, "To Serve And Protect...Ourselves!"

[silicontourist · 8/10 · 11 December 2021]

Well worth the watch!

This will go down as one of the most blatantly obvious internally corrupt police reports ever; from any police department in America. What a disgusting city (I thought the brutality and corruption was bad in New York) and the arrogant scumbags, like Officer Hersl (who should have gotten more than 18 years jail time), were openly defiant about it in bodycam evidence of their excessive use of force. A very well put together documentary film that also did an excellent job of showing that its not just white cops who are racist and corrupt...it presented/showed a whole bundle of lowlife black cops also (Asian and Hispanic ar no better either)!

The people of Baltimore need to band together and take these arrogant pricks down using the power of citizens arrests, cop watch video evidence and the courts etc.

Its about time calling police 'Pigs' was stopped. Why? Because pigs are actually very clean animals (when not laying around in the mud) and the large majority of cops - anywhere in the world- are far too dirty!

Needs to be seen!

[rcrivers · 10/10 · 7 April 2022]

I give this a 10 star rating as it is such an important film addressing the deep seated racism in the American justice system, politics and of coarse, policing. Here we have the murder of a black police officer, sweep under the carpet, never properly investigated, dismissed as a suicide.

Sometimes I wished films like this actually could impact change, if only. But maybe, just maybe, if there are enough of such films , and enough of us see them, we will be able to effect a change.