Breaking is an infuriating indictment of our treatment of veterans 

Abi Damaris Corbin (Actors Anonymous) helms this story, based on true events, about troubled Marine war veteran Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega), who faced mental and emotional challenges when he tried to reintegrate into civilian life. (103 min.)

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• Photo Courtesy Of Salmira Productions, Little Lamb, And Upperroom Productions
• DISCARDED John Boyega stars as real-life Marine war veteran Brian Brown-Easley, who returned from combat a broken man into a system that didn't help him, leading to a tragic showdown, in Breaking, playing in local theaters.

Glen In regards to our government, if you've run out of things to be despondent about, may I draw your attention to Breaking, a film about a U.S. Marine destroyed by the system that was supposed to care for him. Veterans Affairs horror stories are hardly unique—anyone who knows a vet has probably heard about the runaround—but few get much attention. In Brown-Easley's case, he made damn sure people were going to know what happened to him, which is why he famously commandeered a Wells Fargo branch by passing a note to a teller that read, "I have a bomb." What followed was a tense standoff as Brown-Easley tried to publicize his and other veterans' shoddy treatment. The fictionalized story moves back and forth in time, cutting between Brown-Easley and the two bank employees he held captive—Rosa Diaz (Selenis Leyva) and Estel Valerie (Nicole Beharie); his family—ex-wife Cassandra (Olivia Washington) and young daughter Kiah (London Covington); law enforcement including negotiator Eli Bernard (Michael Kenneth Williams); his VA case worker Hana (Miriam Silverman); and news producer Lisa Larson (Connie Britton). It's a tense, infuriating 103 minutes, and a sad indictment of a system and society that asks for too much from its volunteer army, promises too much in return, and delivers too little.

Anna Infuriating is right. What a reminder that those who serve our country come home to red tape and bureaucratic hogwash when it comes to receiving their post-service benefits. When Brown-Easley pleads with his caseworker to correct an $892 mistake that was rendering him homeless, she simply hands him a brochure on services available to unhoused veterans. Brown-Easley was shown that the very system he put his life on the line for valued him so little that it wouldn't even work to correct what is very clearly a loophole in the system. No wonder he felt like the only effective way to be seen was to do something so drastic and dramatic it couldn't be ignored. I'd heard the general details of this story before, but I didn't know the true desperation and the reasons behind it that were going on in Brown Easley's life—it is simply tragic. I have to say the acting from everyone in this project was magnificent, especially for Boyega, Beharie, and Leyva, who we spend most of our time with, trapped in a darkened bank waiting for the inevitable dire conclusion.

Glen I was especially impressed with Beharie as the bank manager. Her Estel Valerie was fierce! Leyva was terrific too as the more fragile Rosa Diaz. They played their characters as deeply frightened but also professional, calmly directing customers out of the bank and harm's way. And then there's Williams as the negotiator. Man, that dude exudes soul. He was amazing on The Wire and Lovecraft Country, and that facial scar he got from a razor attack in a fight—it gives every character he plays some unknown traumatic backstory. Good acting all around. I'm sure mental illness played a role in Brown-Easley's actions, and the film nods to his emotional troubles, but his story didn't have to end the way it did. This is an American tragedy.

Anna Williams was amazing. He's definitely a force to be reckoned with on-screen. This is just one of those heartbreaking, heart-aching stories that forces its audience to look at the dirty underside of the human condition. I don't know Brown-Easley's mental condition or if he was able to receive any support in that area of his life, but if the VA's unwillingness to help with his financial woes is any indication, I'm betting his mental health care was lacking as well. He didn't want the bank's money; he wanted his rightfully earned benefits. He wanted to pay another week's rent at the crappy weekly rental motel he was stuck in; he wanted to put some minutes on his cellphone and see his daughter. By the portrayal in this film, Brown-Easley was a loving, kind, and complicated man who wasn't taken seriously by those around him. He didn't deserve this fate. Δ

Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Glen compiles listings. Comment at [email protected].