Brian Banks reminds me of another quiet, unassuming and powerful story, The Soloist. The former deals with Injustice visited on a young Black Man in Long Beach, CA and the other, Mental Illness and Homelessness on the streets of Downtown LA.
When a film says "based on a true story" I don't immediately become suspicious. But, my antennae are definitely up, realizing that Hollywood does bend the truth in service of a good story. I don't fault it for that. The story here, however truthful is quite compelling, as it involves a young Black Man in Long Beach, California who is falsely accused of rape as a teenager, and whose life is, quite literally destroyed as a result. When the film begins, Brian is watching kids playing football, and thinking about how he might have gone to the NFL had he not gone to prison instead.
The rest is worth not spoiling, but I highly recommend this soft-spoken drama, well-cast with many great actors including the always-dependable Greg Kinnear as the head of the California Innocence Project: a White Man who takes on the cause of seeking Justice for a Black Man he does not know. With no financial incentive. That's an Ally folks, or whatever you want to call it.
