“The Inspection comes from a really raw place for me,” confessed writer/director Elegance Bratton. “I was homeless from ages sixteen to twenty-five because my mother kicked me out of the house for being gay,” he added. “I truly believed that I was worthless and I didn’t deserve good things in life.” Bratton eventually found a sense of value and purpose in the marine corps. He endured the brutal training because he had the ability and responsibility to protect the marine on his right and the marine on his left, and they did the same to him. “It makes us all important to each other.” This idea is a potent tonic to many of today’s social ills. “The right and the left are screaming at each other and no-one’s listening to each each other.” The film asks us to listen to those we don’t agree with.

The Inspection is not a daily diary of Bratton’s military experience. There was some editing, embellishment, and creative license involved. “I wanted to capture the essence of emotional truth. What does it feel like to be Ellis French (Jeremy Pope)?” Elegance conceded that French couldn’t carry his entire life experience, but he was a starting point.

“I’ll say, this film is one hundred percent autobiographical in terms of the desires, fears, and primary motivations of the lead character, Ellis French.” Queer folks were forced to serve in silence for decades under the military’s “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy. Elegance contended that French was not just an iteration of himself. “He was an amalgamation of a queer experience in uniform.”

French was a device to tell a universal story of oppression. French is a black, queer hero, but his experience resonates globally.

Elegance Bratton. Photo by Josiah Rundles

Stylistically, The Inspection is a hybrid film by design – the hand-held camera work, the singular point of view, and unflinching contemplation of military life. Bratton cites Full Metal Jacket and Jarhead as key influences. “I wanted to make a statement about the shaky ground queer troops stood on over the years.”

The Uniform and The Inspection

Men in uniform represent something beyond valor, honor, defence, and respect. The uniform represents the aesthetic beauty of the male form. “The uniform is a masculine mold. If you wear the uniform correctly, then you are a real man.” The Inspection is a process of assessing masculinity. “We’re all evaluating each other to an impossible standard.”

“My ability to manage and conceal desires is also being inspected,” mused Bratton.

It’s too easy to slap on an LGBT sticker on The Inspection and market the film to that community. “This is Rocky,” declared Elegance. “One man willing to go against any odds, all adversity, just to win back the love of his mother. He needs to learn to respect himself. This movie is about anyone who’s down-trodden, disrespected and the future wasn’t promised to them. Embrace your own power.” This is beyond French’s sexuality. It’s about his personal power.

Unlike many films that tackle LBGT themes, The Inspection isn’t about coming to terms with a gay identity or the often painful process of coming out to family and friends. “Coming out is a constant process of concealing and revealing yourself. I had nowhere to hide, but in the world.” Elegance didn’t come out in The Uniform. He was always gay and everybody always knew.

Mother and Son

Ellis French’s mother, Inez (Gabrielle Union) had a prickly relationship with her son. She rejected him, but Ellis still feels an unconditional love towards her. Elegance Bratton’s mother passed a few days before The Inspection was greenlit. “Gabrielle Union helped me bring her back to life and find a form of closure.”

Ellis never gave up on his relationship with his mother and neither did Elegance Bratton. The filmmaker didn’t want to judge Inez, only to give her a voice. “I have a radical, defiant empathy in all my work,” stated Bratton. “Loving my mother in spite of what she did makes me feel better about myself. She was the only person to fully love me and fully reject me.”

“As a black person, you need to tap dance in this world to make it. If you deviate, even a little bit, the system crashes down around you and you fall through the cracks.” Bratton’s mother was a fifteen year old single mother without resources and support. “My mother was a black woman on welfare in the eighties, She was also a class valedictorian.” She also had undiagnosed mental health illness. “There are many people who’ve never been heard and slapped into silence. When your voice has been cut off, your children become the thing.” Despite the hardships, Elegance believes in the unbreakable bond between mother and son. He also believes that everything will work out.

Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) & Inez French (Gabrielle Union)

The Inspection doesn’t have a neat resolution at its conclusion. There are no hugs and kisses as mother hugs her estranged son. “There’s a resigned acceptance. French has found the family that will love him for who he is. He has stability and support as the marines have taken him in as their own.” French realizes he is enough just as he is.

We asked Elegance Bratton about the defining scene that captured the spirit of The Inspection. “The makeup scene before the talent show,” he quipped without hesitation. He cited Madison Moore, assistant professor of Critical Studies in the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California who often discussed weaponizing glamor. Elegance was raised being bullied. He learned to channel that hatred into laughter. The levity played into the drama. “You use what you got to get what you don’t got.” He would never have previously put on a drag show at bootcamp, but this time was different. He put on his makeup and helped the other marines with theirs. “French boldly accepts himself and the other marines boldly accept him.”

The set of The Inspection was a milestone in Elegance Bratton’s career. “Everything came together as one mind.“