''Police Beat'' is a 2005 American crime film directed by
Robinson Devor
Robinson Devor is an American film director, screenwriter and editor. He is also a film professor at Cornish College of the Arts.
Devor has directed both documentaries as well as fiction films; his filmography includes narrative works such as '' ...
and written by
Charles Mudede.
It follows the life of an
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n-born
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
bicycle officer simply known as "Z" for a week. While Z goes about on his policing duties, he finds himself mentally preoccupied with his girlfriend who has gone on a camping trip with an old male friend. This obsession with the absence of his girlfriend and the escalating jealousy and paranoia makes him unfazed by the crimes he witnesses, which take place in locations all over Seattle (including the
Arboretum,
Gasworks Park
Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford ne ...
in
Wallingford, and the
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
factory in
Renton) on different levels of depravity.
The story is narrated by Z in his native
Wolof language
Wolof (; Wolofal: ) is a language of Senegal, Mauritania, and the Gambia, and the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer language, Serer and Fula language, Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian languages, Senegam ...
(the language of
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
and parts of
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
, the
Gambia,
Cote d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre i ...
, and
Mauritania), though he makes the transition to English when interacting with those around him.
''Police Beat'' provides an interesting glimpse into the life of a new immigrant to the United States that focuses less on the protagonist's experience as a new citizen and more on his response to life in an American city. His observation of both human vice and social outlook is contrasted with his conservative sense of duty, both to his work as a police officer and his relationship with his girlfriend.
Based on real police reports that appeared in Charles Mudede's column "Police Beat" for the weekly ''
The Stranger'', the film also provides a snapshot of Seattle in the early 21st century.
References
External links
*
''Police Beat''at
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
2005 crime drama films
Films set in Seattle
2005 films
Fictional portrayals of the Seattle Police Department
American crime drama films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
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