‘892’ Review: A Bank Robbery Makes a Statement in This Indie True-Crime Story
variety.comPeter Debruge Chief Film CriticHere’s the thing about bank robbery movies: No one ever roots for the bank. The tellers rarely seem like real people; the institutions don’t need the money; the insurance companies take the hit.
But even if our sympathies naturally gravitate toward the lawbreakers, seldom has the stick-up guy seemed more sympathetic than the one in director Abi Damaris Corbin’s Sundance-launched feature debut, “892,” based on a recent case in which the crime was really a cry for help.On July 7, 2017, Brian Brown-Easley walked into a Wells Fargo in Marietta, Ga., and handed the clerk a note that said, “I have a bomb.” But what he meant was “I have a message.” Brown-Easley wasn’t looking to take the bank’s money.
He demanded just $892.34 — the same amount that the Dept. of Veteran Affairs had withheld from his last disability check. But even more importantly, he wanted an audience, causing a scene and taking hostages so that the world might hear his frustration, seemingly directed at the VA but clearly aggravated by the whole broken bureaucracy.
These days, there’s a word for such stunts: Some consider it “protest,” others “terrorism,” and your enjoyment of “892” may depend on which camp you fall into.
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