Shadow and Act has an exclusive featurette for Elegance Bratton’s acclaimed directorial debut The Inspection, which stars Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union. 

Here is the official description of the film: In Elegance Bratton’s deeply moving film inspired by his own story, a young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. But even as he battles deep-seated prejudice and the grueling routines of basic training, he finds unexpected camaraderie, strength, and support in this new community, giving him a hard-earned sense of belonging that will shape his identity and forever change his life.

In a review of The Inspection for S&A, Aramide A. Tinbu writes that ‘Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union are absolutely stellar” and thst the latter “gives a truly evocative performance, unlike anything we’ve seen from her previously.”

“The tonal changes in The Inspection might throw off some viewers, but the truth of Bratton’s life and experience, and those of other marginalized, abandoned, and abused people aren’t all dark and bleak,” Tinbu writes.

Aside from Pope and Union, the film also stars Raúl Castillo, McCaul Lombardi, Aaron Dominguez, Aubrey Joseph and Bokeem Woodbine. The Inspection is now available on VOD.