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鈥淩ebel Ridge,鈥� the hit Netflix movie, makes no secret about its intent or approach. It鈥檚 a satisfying political thriller that also delves into racial tensions in America.

Those tensions are evident in the film鈥檚 first 10 minutes. An unlawful traffic stop on a rural backroad, where $30,000 in bail money for a relative is confiscated,聽temporarily turns ex-Marine protagonist Terry Richmond, played by Aaron Pierre, into a victim. It鈥檚 a scene that鈥檚 visceral for many because of the sad history of Black male fatalities at seemingly innocuous stops.

Terry, in response to the incident, goes 鈥淩ambo鈥� on a racist police force, led by a corrupt police chief (Don Johnson). But writer-director Jeremy Saulnier offers Terry as a different kind of superhero.

鈥淭erry, throughout the whole movie, is actually using minimum force, even when he鈥檚 cracking elbows and knocking people out. ... I wanted this to be grounded and plausible in how he gets across the finish line鈥� without being killed, Saulnier told the Los Angeles Times.

His sensibilities give gravitas to the performances of Pierre, Johnson, and AnnaSophia Robb, who plays Summer, an aspiring attorney who ends up befriending and assisting Terry. And they鈥檝e struck a chord with streaming audiences. The film sits atop the聽Netflix Global Top 10 list a month after its release, having registered close to 70 million views in its first two weeks and winning raves from nearly every critic who鈥檚 seen it.

Because 鈥淩ebel Ridge鈥� isn鈥檛 a gory shoot-em-up, it allows for analysis and criticism of police reform, a central theme of the movie, and offers important commentary in the wake of movements such as Black Lives Matter. It also allows for viewers to understand the depths of civil asset forfeiture 鈥� a legal process allowing law enforcement to seize property suspected of being involved in a crime. First used in the war on drugs against kingpins, the practice has since become dubious and discredited.

While Johnson and Pierre鈥檚 characters have a number of face-offs, the 鈥渟tand-off鈥� in this case is more of a dialogue from the police chief about how his department employs civil asset forfeiture to make up for budget shortfalls. It鈥檚 a narrative, much like its real-world incarnation, that doesn鈥檛 hold up to scrutiny.

A December 2022 report from an advisory committee in my native South Carolina offers a grim reality.

鈥淭he Committee learned that civil asset forfeitures are seemingly not driven by public safety needs but rather by funding needs for law enforcement agencies,鈥� said Ted Mauro, who chaired the committee. 鈥淚n South Carolina, civil asset forfeiture has few procedural safeguards and no formal reporting requirements of what is seized from whom and why. The due process and property rights of the state鈥檚 residents deserve protection, particularly when this policy seems to disproportionately impact communities of color.鈥�

Neither the Palmetto State, nor the South in general, has a singular license on problematic policing methods. New York became infamous for its 鈥渟top-and-frisk鈥� methodology. Part of the aftermath of Michael Brown鈥檚 murder at the hands of a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, led to a Department of Justice investigation in 2015. The words of Eric Holder, who was the attorney general at the time, could have been used as a preview for 鈥淩ebel Ridge.鈥�

鈥淚n a sense, members of the community may not have been responding only to a single isolated confrontation, but also to a pervasive, corrosive, and deeply unfortunate lack of trust 鈥� exacerbated by severely disproportionate use of these tactics against African Americans; and driven by overriding pressure from the city to use law enforcement not as a public service, but as a tool for raising revenue,鈥� Holder said.

Because director Saulnier chose to present a message and not a massacre, he struck ideological gold on a streaming service. And that has inspired hope, he told the LA Times.

鈥淚 specialize in tension and creating these sort of slow-boiling movies. And unlike any other, I think this [movie] has more of an uplift to it,鈥� he said. 鈥淐ertainly, it鈥檚 harrowing, and there鈥檚 some tragic turns, but I鈥檝e never felt such a lift from an audience. Literally, I鈥檝e seen people get out of their seats. I鈥檝e seen people high-five.鈥�