Strong Island
A filmmaker confronts his brother’s unsolved killing and the racial fears that shaped the system’s refusal to deliver justice.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- mournful
- investigative
- unsettling
- focused viewing
- documentary night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a formally ambitious, deeply personal, and powerful examination of grief, racialized fear, and judicial failure.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Yance Ford investigates the violent death of his brother while appearing onscreen as himself, making personal testimony part of the inquiry.
The documentary explicitly interrogates murderous fear and the racialized perceptions surrounding the killing and its judicial aftermath.
The film contrasts the family's grief and search for understanding with the judicial system's failure to hold the killer accountable.
The film reimagines the wreckage after catastrophe through intimate interviews and an investigative return to the brother's death.
Films like Strong Island, and why
The Thin Blue Line
personal investigation of racialized violence and institutional failure through intimate documentary testimony
Time: The Kalief Browder Story
family-centered true crime documentary examining murder, memory, and systemic injustice
I Am Not Your Negro
formally inventive nonfiction interrogation of race, trauma, and American institutions
The House I Live In
emotionally searching documentary portrait of grief, identity, and structural racism
Movie Details
- Director
- Yance Ford
- Release Date
- 2017-01-23
- Runtime
- 107 min
- Rating
- 6.3 / 10 (102)
Cast
- Yance Ford
- Harvey Walker
- Kevin Myers
- Barbara Dunmore Ford
- Lauren Ford
- David Breen
- Ed Boyar
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Strong Island about?
- A filmmaker confronts his brother’s unsolved killing and the racial fears that shaped the system’s refusal to deliver justice.
- What is Strong Island like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Strong Island as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Strong Island violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Strong Island as moderate.
- What did critics think of Strong Island?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a formally ambitious, deeply personal, and powerful examination of grief, racialized fear, and judicial failure.
- Which films are like Strong Island?
- Films with a similar feel include The Thin Blue Line, Time: The Kalief Browder Story, I Am Not Your Negro, and The House I Live In.
- How long is Strong Island?
- Strong Island runs 107 minutes.
- Where can I watch Strong Island?
- In United States, Strong Island streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
