I sat down to watch I’m Just Here For the Riot Wednesday night, the documentary about Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup riots after the Canucks lost Game 7.
After the opening scene set, there were about 20 minutes that just destroyed me.
It brought back the pit in my stomach from June 15, 2011, the same pit that became hard to shake in the following days.
Seeing so many familiar sites in the middle of grotesque public violence just stirred something within. That orange glow — cars on fire — gave it an evil spectre and made it feel like a war zone.
And that’s what good documentaries do. They transport you to the scene and move you in one way or the other. I was very much moved, even if the emotion was negative.
What I hated about those opening scenes is not just that they happened, but that they only perpetuate the reputation of Canucks fans, especially after the Luke Gazdic rant earlier this week.
It’s really unfair given that a large majority of Canucks fans aren’t rioters and don’t spew online garbage.
But we’re also the only city with two Stanley Cup riots on its résumé and that’s something we’ll live with for a long time. A topic well worth exploring in doc form.
Co-filmmaker Kat Jayme brought up the question of our nature in the introduction, and it was well-explored throughout the film.
In a lawless environment, how many of us would get swept up and indulge? What are the psychological effects of a mob? And where do we draw the line legally, criminally?
The other good question asked by this doc was whether cameras hurt or helped the situation. Did the pull of performing for social media aid and abet? Or did some of those cameras stop others from joining in?
It was, as the film points out, the first riot of the smartphone era.
It’s a beautifully shot doc with smartphone video providing footage for days. I’m sure the cutting-room floor was replete with images that could’ve easily ballooned the run time.
And that’s another sign of a good doc.
The parts about our city coming together, both to shame, name and prosecute evil-doers, and to clean up on the morning of June 16th, helped soothe the Vancouverites’ souls after that jarring opening painted the city in such a negative light.
There was good breadth of character, lots of voices and competing viewpoints to make one think.
In terms of omissions, I would have liked to see the police pressed a little more given that Cup riots had happened before.
And in the days and weeks that followed, there was a theory that organized anarchists were to blame for igniting the unrest, but there was no exploration of that.
You might remember the Canucks’ cry of “Those are not our fans” even though many were wearing Canucks gear.
In some cases, that theory was by hockey people to excuse hockey people, as though you need a good-guy license to support the sport or the Canucks. In other cases, I’m sure it was political expediency in the ongoing battle of right versus left.
Either way, I would’ve liked to see that bogeyman put to bed or fleshed out further.
As the doc meandered on, my emotions calmed until the final 15 minutes or so.
I don’t doubt that rioters who were outed on social media went through a difficult period — deservingly so. Many said what they experienced online was worse than the legal consequences.
But that there was an equivalency drawn between people who actually did physical harm with online trolls got me furious.
I noticed this with Jayme’s The Grizzlie Truth doc: she seems to trade sympathy for access. Grizzlies president Stu Jackson and would-be star Steve Francis got her onside quickly, and I felt this doc was too soft on rioters.
One rioter asks: “Have you never done anything wrong?”
Well, sure I have, as have others. But how many have smashed windows, assaulted first responders and lit police cruisers on fire?
Online shame and hate may be repugnant, but we’re talking about words versus violent acts. Throwing a Molotov cocktail is far, far worse than throwing shade on Twitter.
We have free speech in this country. The right to riot is not yet protected.
My feelings here came to a crescendo when a Whistler mountain biker, who got caught, instructed the audience not to pull out their cameras and film if they see someone committing illegal acts.
Are you f**king kidding me?
That’s how many of these crimes got solved! That’s how many crimes get solved — period. That’s the public oversight and scrutiny we need to help the police, who were so clearly overmatched on that dreadful night in June 2011.
His comment went unchallenged and left me furious that the filmmakers would let it dangle.
But, hey, I was moved emotionally by that irresponsibility. Again, the sign of a good doc.
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