At first, the true crime documentary I Got a Monster seems like the victim of bad timing. Director Kevin Abrams turns his attention to the Gun Trace Task Force, a deeply corrupt unit in the Baltimore Police Department whose leader, Wayne Jenkins, would steal cash and drugs seemingly with impunity. Now if the name “Wayne Jenkins” rings a bell, it is because last year HBO released the David Simon miniseries We Own This City, which covers the same dark period in the city’s history. Like We Own This City, which is an adaptation of a book by Justin Fenton, a reporter at The Baltimore Sun, I Got a Monster is another film version of a book (this one by Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderberg). While this is some overlap with both films, they ultimately prove to be good complements of one another.
Our main entry point is Ivan Bates, a passionate attorney who has worked for both the prosecution and defense. He helped create the foundation against Jenkins and his accomplices, most of whom are still serving lengthy jail sentences. Now whereas We Own This City is almost entirely from the point of view of the Gun Trace Task Force, a more action-centric approach that is admittedly more thrilling and kinetic, Abrams prefers to follow a handful of Jenkins’ victims. All their stories are harrowing because, simply by encountering the Task Force, these ordinary men and women must deal with a legal system that’s built to take the side of law enforcement. It is through this bias that Jenkins and his conspirators could get away with so much, and for so long. That is little solace to the parents who now have a stain on a record, or a man so disturbed by his Jenkins encounter that his life fell apart, to the point he remains homeless.
The story of Jenkins’ eventual incarceration runs parallel to the Freddie Gray uprising, which seized the city in 2015 (of course, Jenkins received a commendation for his conduct then). Afterward, there was understandable reluctance for ordinary folks to trust the police, and yet the FBI and special prosecutors were persistent. They realized they needed some cooperation before any of the charges against Jenkins would stick, and so a main undercurrent to I Got a Monster is how passionate public servants advance an important cause within a flawed system. Bates is particularly aware of his contradiction, as a Black man who even defended one of the police officers that was arrested for Gray’s murder. The film strangely glosses over this nuanced moment to criminal defense from Bates, who recently unseated Marilyn Mosby in a citywide election and now works as a State’s Attorney.
I Got a Monster, which refers to something Jenkins says when he uncovers a safe full of cash and drugs, is straightforward in its presentation. Abrams relies almost exclusively on interviews with key players, and creates a sense of context through drone footage and archival news reports. There is no denying We Own This City is the most entertaining depiction, due in no small part to Jon Bernthal’s memorable performance as Jenkins. But there is a human element to this documentary that can elude the Simon miniseries, which turns into a bitter polemic about police corruption in general. Sure, the depth of Jenkins’ sociopathic behavior is disturbing and he deserves so much worse than his ultimate final sentence, but that’s not just because he thought he could away with it. He also caused borderline irreparable harm to folks who simply found themselves in his wake, and while their stories do not have the thrills you might find in a police procedural, they are arguably more important for precisely that reason.
Photo courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment
The post I Got a Monster appeared first on Spectrum Culture.