3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets

Postcard from an angry city. On Black Friday 2012, two cars parked next to each other at a Florida gas station. A white middle-aged male and a black teenager exchanged angry words over the volume of the music in the boy's car. The man pulled a gun leaving an unarmed teenager dead and fled. Arrested the following day, the documentary film 3 ½ minutes, 10 bullets reports on the court trial where he claimed self-defense. It examines legal and social issues, such as self-defense and racial stereotypes that prejudice people to think black kids blasting rap are gangsters. Director Marc Silver assures a gripping scenario by gradually sketching out the situation to then make the viewer impatiently wait for the plot thicken and ultimately hear the verdict, while avoiding cheap sensationalism along the way. Writing for the Roger Ebert page, Matt Zoller Seitz found, Where a lot of documentaries would try to stir outrage, this one just leaves you shaking your head.