Agents provocateurs - controversy over the motion picture 'DROP Squad'

Black vigilantes intent on saving the race by kidnapping and deprogramming people who have lost sight of their cultural heritage are on the prowl in writer-director David Johnson's first film, DROP Squad. DROP stands for Deprogramming and Restoration of Pride. In the film, the DROP Squad catches a crooked politician, a minister, a drug dealer, and an ambitious advertising executive (Eriq LaSalle) who is prepared to support a racist ad campaign for malt liquor in order to get ahead. Led by the beret-wearing Rocky (Vondie Curtis-Hall), the squad applies physical and verbal abuse to coerce their prisoners into political correctness.

In the real world, it is unclear what this new film - a collaborative effort by Johnson, producer Butch Robinson and executive producer Spike Lee - will catch. Controversy and criticism probably; an audience less certainly. Mainstream critical acclaim is unlikely, in part because of the film's bizarre premise, confusing structure, and lack of character development, and in larger part because of the intentions of the creative trio behind the film.

"We hope it instigates conversation," says Robinson. "It's not your standard African-American film. We want to stir up some trouble."

DROP Squad poses the question of how you simultaneously get white people to trust you and black people to respect you. "We're trying to address, in a broad sense, what black folks are confronted with every day," Robinson continues. "We just took it to a level of absurdism with DROP Squad. The squad are the neorevolutionaries of the '90s. They do what they want, right or wrong. The bottom line is that their problems, and those of whom they have kid-napped demand action."

"The squad are like patriots who believe that theirs is the only way to save their community," Johnson adds. "Hopefully that will be the debate. There are a lot of messages. There's self-determination - who has the right to decide what's best for the group."

The film, which will be released by Gramercy Pictures in September, evolved from a 1988 short cowritten by Robinson and Johnson called The Session, which aired on the Public Broadcasting Service. The duo then itched the concept to Lee, who has a cameo role.

"This is a film about assimilation," Lee explains. "It's about what lengths people will go to to assimilate. The lead character is all about getting his. He has no real identity."

Of his working relationship with Lee, Johnson notes: "We had some difficulties. Spike and I are both headstrong individuals. I had an idea where I wanted to go, and he had others. To his credit his entertainment bent worked. I'm grateful to this brother for using his clout to help other brothers expose their visions."

While Lee's name will probably help DROP Squad at the box office, Johnson realizes that it may be a difficult film to market. it has a relatively unknown cast and, by Hollywood standards, lacks many of the elements that have made other films of this genre successful. No sex. No New Jack City violence. No rap stars. No Jungle Fever. Minimal profanity.

"What we need is good word-of-mouth," Johnson says. "I think this film will challenge people. I'm hoping a lot of minority groups can relate. I think I of us at one time or another realize that we're on way on the job and another way at home.

"Regardless of who you are, you'll see some character that you know, and it'll make you start to think where you're coming from."

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