Teenage, black Elwood (Ethan Herisse) lives with his grandmother Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) in Tallahassee, Florida. It is the middle of the 1960s, time of change. Martin Luther King announced that “he has a dream” and then walked at the head of the march from Selma to Montgomery. Sidney Poitier received an Oscar for the main male role as the first African American in history. The world is moving forward, and Elwood has more opportunities than his grandmother and parents years ago. As an exemplary student, he receives the opportunity to attend a free university.
Unfortunately, bad luck wants a black man who offers a boyfriend turns out to be a thief. The police don’t care that Elwood met him just before stopping. Instead of at the university, he goes to the Nickel Academy correctional facility. There, she makes friends with one of her pupils, Turner (Brandon Wilson). Together, they support each other in full systemic and racial brutality, which will last until they reach the age of majority and thus release from the plant. For Elwood it will be 1968 – then Kinga was murdered. The dream ends, followed by a return to the nightmare.
The dramatic axis is the conflict of Elwood and Turner’s attitudes. The first believes that the wrongly embedding him in Nickel is an injustice and error of the system that will not significantly affect the track of his life. This belief keeps his grandmother in him. He will simply start his studies a few years later.
The cynical Turner thinks that the changes in the United States are an illusion and the system remains aimed at black. The best example for him is the way of Nickel’s functioning. It has segregation due to the color of the skin. White prisoners live in better conditions and have many more opportunities than black people. They cannot count on decent education, but they are used for physical work. It does not end with economic exploitation. The facility is dominated by the language of strength, and physical violence usually comes from guardians, primarily sociopaths (Hamish Linklater). Surprising (and unconvincing) that it is deprived of illusions and initiative that Turner finally decides to take action when the staff of the facility crosses subsequent borders.
Fallings from the future break through the fate of two teenagers, showing an adult Elwood (Daveed Diggs), who tries to arrange his life in New York 90s. The man is still struggling with dramatic memories. The scene hits the most, in which he accidentally meets the former nickel companion. This, which meets the crisis of homelessness and addictions, begins to mention at some point what happened to other boys. Those who managed to leave the facility. Ross clearly shows in it that she was not intended to raise anyone or adapt to life in society. Instead, she broke the lives of many people. At the same time, the words of the wayward Turner to Elwood’s proposal to inform someone about the situation in Nickel. Without enthusiasm, he points out that this is only one of the hundreds of facilities in the whole country. And they most likely come to similar, if not worse things.
Pointing to the subject of “Copper”, I can cause anxiety that here we have an example of another film about important social matters, in which a lopologically given message determines the value of the work. I calm down, this is not the new movie Avy DuverNay like the previously mentioned “Selmy”. Ross’s work stands out primarily from the formal side. For almost the entire projection of the event, they are shown to us from the point of view of Elwood or Turner. Ross sometimes goes away from it, but more on that later. Pictures seemingly “sight of the eyes” of the heroes make history at first seem much more personal. It also allows creators for other formal and narrative treatments.
By compiling the moments of carefree lying on the grass with violent behaviors with Nickel, the director gives the whole character a course of memories, often departing from the formula of the feature film. Thanks to this form, the viewer knows and sees what the hero. This allows you to play with drama. Ross does not make a mistake of many directors and trusts the intelligence of the participants of the screening. Instead of showing directly, he just suggests. It is primarily about violence in the facility. We don’t have to see her to feel the atmosphere of horror among her pupils.
Unfortunately, Ross’s biggest advantage also quickly becomes its most serious disadvantage. The form gives the director new possibilities, but also drastically limits him. First of all, it negatively affects the readability of the plot. This is especially striking from the moment we meet the Turner. Sometimes we just don’t know whose eyes we look at the scene at the presented world.
Ross goes away from the heroes’ perspective. Among other things, in scenes with adult Elwood, which we observe from behind his back. Through the 4: 3 image format, associations with the outstanding “Son of Saul’s” László Nemes are immediately. It gives the impression of claustrophobia, as if the hero was overwhelmed by some burden – probably memories and traumatic experiences. A simple metaphor, but it works great. However, I do not understand why a similar image format is used in scenes from the point of view of teenagers. Why did the creators decide to limit him then, also in a carefree scenes, when Elwood still believed that there were many good things before him?
We also leave the heroes in mounting plywoods showing clippings of information programs, emphasizing the importance of subsequent great events. And we sporadically abandon this form because … right, I don’t know why. These are individual shots, not too much for the story, completely unnecessary. However, they pull out of a trance where you can fall during the film. As if Ross felt that he imposed too much restrictions and had to break free from them.
Form, really impressive in places, dominates over the poignant content of “copper”. Ross set the bar in his debut very high. Instead of a black and white reading, he preferred to offer viewers a film demanding and difficult to perceive. Unfortunately, he failed to match his very high ambitions. I would not like to sound as if I was crossing him. No, absolutely not. He is a creator who is just starting his adventure with the story cinema. He is still looking for his language and works on it. And maybe he will give us a masterpiece in the future. I count on it. However, “Copper”, although they are not a bad film, it is difficult to treat differently than as an ambitious failure.
5/10
“Copper” (Nickel Boys), dir. RAMELL ROSS, USA 2024, streaming platform: Prime Video, Prime Minister VOD in Poland: February 27, 2025