Sundance Film Festival 2022: 892 Sheds Light On A Veteran True-Crime Story
John Boyega leads 892 premiering at Sundance Film Festival 2022, which tells the true story of Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley who held up an Atlanta Wells Fargo Bank in 2017 in a desperate attempt to get his disability check of $892 from Veterans Affairs.
While the film is adapted from the article Aaron Gell’s wrote called “They Didn’t Have To Kill Him,” 892 mostly focuses on the stand off inside the bank. Because this was inspired by a real event, the process is much slower than in a typical bank robbery film. The hostage negotiations take forever to get started, the VA refuses to help, the police are slow, and they fail everyone involved, especially Easley.
892 is Abi Damaris Corbin's feature directorial debut and she expertly captures Easley’s story without being excessive, portraying his untimely death with respect. John Boyega delivers a layered performance full of frustration and empathy. You can understand what pushed him to the edge, especially when the Department of Veterans Affairs has a reputation for doing veterans dirty. Selenis Leyva and Nicole Beharie play the bank employees that he takes hostage. You can see the journey they go through overtime, from fear to understanding, when it comes to Brian’s struggle. 892 also marks one of the final performances from the late Michael K. Williams as negotiator and fellow veteran Eli Bernard, who sympathized with Easley’s plight and wanted to resolve everything peacefully.
Easley wanted press coverage and an audience so that he could bring attention to not only his own struggle, but the struggle that all veteran’s deal with when they come back from serving our country. What makes this movie even more heartbreaking is learning that even after Easley’s passing, nothing has changed. Veteran Affairs never fixed their mistake or gave his family the money he was owed. There has been no reform when it comes to helping veterans, like Brian.
My hope is that 892 helps bring awareness to a wider audience and can make a real change in the way our veterans are treated.
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