With just four previous films under his belt, director Jeremy Saulnier has only strengthened his feature film lineup with 2024’s Rebel Ridge. Some are calling the Netflix exclusive movie a more slow-burning and calculative take on Prime Video’s widely popular Reacher series. Others applaud actor Aaron Pierre’s take on the main character of Terry Richmond, a man who takes action against the corrupt local police — but without using lethal force. Saulnier’s latest may be defined as an action thriller, and rightly so, but visually and thematically speaking, it is much more than that. Not only does the cinematography at certain points elevate Rebel Ridge out of the oversaturated genre (with numerous slow-tracking camera sequences and one-shot takes), but the introductory — and shocking — premise very quickly pulls the movie into a space of modern injustice.
Within just the first 10 minutes, audiences get to witness the harrowing plight of Terry Richmond. He’s biking through the outskirts of Shelby Springs (a region in Calera, Alabama) on his way to the town courthouse to post bail for his cousin when he is unjustly rammed by a police cruiser. The two officials not only put Richmond in handcuffs but also execute a search of his belongings, where they find $36 thousand in cash. Even though that is the cash needed for him and his cousin to start a new life, officers Evan Marston and Steve Lann (played by David Denman and Emory Cohen, respectively) seize this large sum of money under a law called asset forfeiture — in this case, civil asset forfeiture.
Seizing Money From a Former Marine in Rebel Ridge
Sometime later, during a quick in-and-out diner scene, a court clerk named Summer McBride (brought to life by actress AnnaSophia Robb) quickly tells Richmond a quick breakdown of where his money is going now. She says “Chief gets to keep the proceeds – uses it for discretionary funds. . . whatever that means.” This, in turn, helps the viewer understand what would otherwise be technical law lingo. Richmond is thoroughly shocked by this, as he should be. They took his money, and they’re allowed to keep it, too?
Even though this may sound like something that should have been abolished years ago, this real-life process entails law enforcement agencies claiming ownership (just like that) of what was formerly private property because they allege said private property was (or is) a part of a crime. Since this tactic is very efficient in the illegal drug trade, supporters of this enforcement tactic are all about the fact that civil forfeiture harms suspected criminals while helping law and order in financial ways. According to a study on the impact of this process on the state of Georgia, authorities captured over $51 million and managed to spend well over one-half of that amount in three years.
Is Terry Richmond Based on a Real Person?
Coupled with trying to rescue his cousin from the possible tortures of the state penitentiary, Rebel Ridge’s Richmond soon turns into a resilient one-man army. But in doing so, this character also brings forth the traumatizing consequences one endures when asset forfeiture is placed upon them. Now, not every person (or organization) who finds themselves in this type of situation will have such a dire need for what was taken. Take, for instance, when the State of Texas seized a church belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or when the United States settled a $12 million civil forfeiture from the estate of an illegal antiques trafficker, Douglas Latchford.
But in other situations, going through an unforeseen and unwarranted asset forfeiture could undo someone’s entire life. In February 2021, for instance, a man named Stephen Lara was pulled over in Nevada. Without charges or arrest, the officers involved in the situation took the man’s life savings (which he had official withdrawal documentation for) and left him penniless on the side of the road. As a marine veteran traveling cross country to visit his daughters, he is now suing the state for this heinous act and trying to ensure that no citizen of Nevada will ever have to go through what he did.
Civil Asset Forfeiture Goes Back to the 1600s
As Rebel Ridge shows, this seizing can and will create a conflict of interest among the officers of the law, and that’s what makes this such a scary legal process. Chief Sandy Burnne’s (who is strikingly depicted by Don Johnson) entire force has now been incentivized to conduct this sort of thing solely because they are not being given enough budget by the higher-ups. Step out of the cinematic world for a moment and Nevada (where Stephen Lara was arrested) seems to be one of the 11 states where 100% of the proceeds (from civil asset forfeiture) go to law enforcement. The events shown in this movie might be closer to reality than we think.
Technically speaking, displays of civil forfeiture have been around since the 1600s, when the British would seize American ships (and everything on them) if they did not don the British flag. Saulnier’s latest film has successfully brought this controversial process to the spotlight through the vehicle of corrupt racial profiling and with a unique type of action that most viewers are keen to see more of. Since the film was released on September 6, searches for “Civil forfeiture in the United States” have skyrocketed (according to Google Trends). Many did not even know this legal process existed, and that’s a scary thought. Who would have thought that Netflix would teach something to the citizens of this country before the government did? Rebel Ridge is now available to stream on Netflix.