A poetic film about an innocent African-American boy in a terrible reform school

The time is the 60s in Jim Crow era Florida, and an African American boy has the opportunity to go to the best college, only for it to be destroyed by cops who accuse him of stealing a car. He’s now sent to the segregated reform school Nickel Academy, and this sets up the drama “Nickel Boys.” It’s one that expresses themes and takes a completely different filmmaking approach in representing them.

The accused boy is named Elwood (Ethan Herisse), and at Nickel Academy, he acknowledges it as a Hell hole with the sadistic school administrator Spencer (Hamish Linklater) warning him and the other boys to not step out of line. He can barely see his grandmother Hattie (Aunjaune Ellis-Taylor), who is told by the school that her grandson is sick and struggles to find the lawyer to set him free. And at this point, his only friend is Turner (Brandon Wilson), who has proven his cynicism when Elwood plans to expose the school of its sins.

One of the fascinating filming techniques of “Nickel Boys” is the way it’s filmed in a first person point of view, mostly from either Elwood or Turner, and with a 1:33:1 aspect ratio. I’m told it’s presented as a traditional film, and writer/director RaMell Ross shares his passion for that in the Vanity Fair article: “The Making of Nickel Boys: How a Pulitzer-Winning Novel Became a Radical, Harrowing Film.” I’m not writing the whole interview to make this article longer, so forget it.

I can, however, express my passion for his passion for the main characters and our hatred for this school.

In real life, this academy was called the Dozier Florida School for Boys, which became notorious for abusing students. In this movie, we mostly hear the students getting attacked by their teachers. For example, there’s also Griff (Luke Tennie), who gets his butt whooped by Spencer. And that same person asks him to throw a boxing fight in the second match, making it look like a white fighter is supposed to win. But he screws up, and I don’t think we want to know the results of that.

We also see Elwood in his adulthood (now played by Daveed Diggs) with a moving company and still trying to expose Nickel Academy for what it is. In regards to the first person point of view, we mostly see the back of his head, and these shots are beautifully photographed, especially during some conversations and reunions, which I won’t spoil for you.

As an adult, Diggs reminds me of his character in “Blindspotting,” in which he played a man who witnessed a white cop killing an African-American man. Only difference is that he represent his character’s hatred toward Nickel Academy on a somber scale.

And as a kid, Herisse is a name I have never heard of before, but I know great things will come for him. He delivers his performance with a certain tone and emotions that allows us to acknowledge his pathos and how he comes out of them. And the supporting work from Ellis-Taylor, Wilson (another one I don’t know), and Linklater are excellent and provocative. How Ross handles these actors is astonishing.

There are some montages of archival footage and clips, which go on a little long, but are often poetic and outspoken about what was always wrong with our society and how, despite all the cynicism and road blocks, we can fight against it. “Nickel Boys,” based on Colson Whitehead’s novel and adapted into a screenplay by Ross and Joslyn Barnes, is a haunting and vibrant examination on the kids who were unfortunate enough to deal with the sins and horrors of this school. We may be talking about different names of the school, but it’s still truthful.

In New York This Week and Los Angeles Next Week