FBI informant’s sad tale of betrayal

Bewildering true story of how a teenager ended up spending most of his life in prison

director Yann Demange’s film, but it is context that would have helped frame the whole endeavour.

As it is, this movie is all about how he ended up where he did. Rick, played by Richie Merritt, is the son of a down-on-his-luck hustler, Richard Sr (Matthew Mcconaughey), who’s trying to advance his family’s station in life by re-selling modified AK-47S to Detroit druglords. Rick’s mom left them, and his sister is on the verge of becoming a full-blown junkie.

The film starts in 1984 when Rick is 14 and shows how this soft-spoken boy gets so easily seduced by the glitz of the drug scene and, of course, the money.

Two FBI agents (played by Jason Leigh and Cochrane) pay Richard Sr a visit one day, trying to get him to give some info about the people to whom he’s selling guns. He declines, but

Rick Jr jumps in to tell them a little. And in no time at all, he’s a full-on informant, playing a double game with some of the city’s most powerful dealers, including Lil’ Man (Jonathan Majors), and making money on his own.

The film fails to really develop some of the essential characters outside of the Wershe family.

Overall, it is a bewildering story of the callousness of the adults who helped encourage Rick to get into this position (the betrayals will make your blood boil) and an indictment of how US laws often hurt people from the most vulnerable classes. | AP