Bigelow explores a horrific history

There is no nice or pretty way to tell a story about the systemic oppression and mistreatment of black people in the United States. It's fitting then that Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit, an account of the murders of three unarmed black men that took place in the Algiers Motel in late July 1967, is an all-out assault on your senses and soul.

It's hard to overstate just how visceral and harrowing an experience it is.

Detroit is a well-made and evocative film that is also numbingly brutal with little to no reprieve. And while it might be the only true way to tell this story, it's also one that is not going to be for everyone.