New Documentary Street Fighting Men Explores Tough Times In Detroit
By John Saeger
The documentary Street Fighting Men follows Detroit men who are fighting to turn their lives and city around. The three individuals are a community activist, a young family man looking for a solid path, and a hard worker who fell on hard times in the Great Recession. Each subject faces different objectives and obstacles in the documentary, which in turn reveals the formidable climb the city faces.
Street Fighting Men is directed by Andrew James. The veteran director has helmed a series of films that take on tough subjects. One of his projects, the 13-minute short Community Patrol, focuses on a Detroit minister who encourages his community to shut down a drug house. The minister, Malik Shabazz, also appears as an activist in the long-form documentary.
See also: Inside Street Fighting Men With Director Andrew James
The three men who are featured predominantly in Street Fighting Men are James “Jack Rabbit”Jackson, Luke Williams, and Deris Solomon. Jackson is a retired Detroit cop who is working as a tow truck and snow plower driver. The film’s title is a play on the headline of a 2010 Detroit Metro Times piece on Jackson, who spends time as a community activist and proactively surveills drug dealers in the metro area. When asked why he doesn’t just kick back and enjoy the fruits of his labors in retirement, Jackson simply replies “I’m going for mine, Detroit.”
The other subjects are under more dire personal circumstances. Luke Williams spends much of the film trying to scrape together funds to rehabilitate a house, a story that takes an unforeseen turn when the project burns down. The third, Deris Solomon, is the father of a baby girl and is looking to take the next step in his life to support his new family.
There is little narrative structure to Street Fighting Men, which offers slim context and no media to support each of their lives beyond its intimate documentation. The potent film allows the audience to walk a mile in their shoes through a bare bones format. Each man represents different generational perspectives on the metropolis: youth, middle-age, and an older figurehead. Their connection is only Detroit, a city with long odds determined by the choices of individuals surrounded by tough circumstances.
STREET FIGHTING MEN – Official Trailer from Andrew James on Vimeo.
About the Author John Saeger is a music and film writer from Philadelphia. Since 2017 he has been writing the pop-culture blog Long After Dark, a site dedicated to the arts in the City of Brotherly Love and beyond. Email / Twitter
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