Shocked by a death in custody

Police killings of unarmed black Americans have become the kind of civic scourge that creates a uniquely terrible swirl of outrage and grief, especially when there appears to be no concurrent thirst for accountability or change from authorities. Politically outspoken 28-yearold Sandra Bland’s mysterious death by hanging while in the custody of sheriff’s department officials in Waller County, Texas, is one of the stranger, sadder and more maddening instances of needlessly snuffed-out life.

A new documentary about the incident, “Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland,” provides the perspectives of Bland’s stricken mother and sisters, their impassioned attorney Cannon Lambert and softspokenly defensive local law enforcement.

How does being pulled over for a lane change lead to an arrest, bruises, jail isolation and an officially ruled suicide? It’s still hard to say, but the evidence of custodial neglect, incompetence and officials’ spurious assumptions about Bland — coupled with her life as a frequent poster of civic-minded, callto-activism video monologues about race relations — gives the movie’s depiction of the case a not-so-subtle air of racially charged malfeasance.

With the family, filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner are dutifully sensitive in the manner of a solemn PBS doc, but there’s little pushback in the interviews with the good ol’ boy sheriff and Stetson-wearing district attorney, which plays oddly. “Say Her Name” doesn’t have answers, but it does re-emphasize how unnecessarily tragic Bland’s death was, and why her name should be a boldfaced one in the nationwide call for police reform. “Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland.” Not rated. Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes. Playing: Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; also on HBO, Dec. 3.