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Acclaimed filmmaker Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep, My Brother's Wedding, To Sleep With Anger) focuses his unique directorial vision on a new genre for him, the policier/action film, creating a powerful moral drama that loses none of its uncompromising anger for being his most mainstream work to date.
From a story by a true-life LAPD officer, The Glass Shield scrutinises the pitfalls of corruption and bigotry inherent in the close knit world of cops on a hyper-violent Los Angeles beat Young, over-eager rookie J.). is the first African-American to be assigned to an intolerant suburban station with a growing reputation for excessive force and suspect arrest procedures. His desire to be accepted by the pack sets him on a tragic personal journey from being part of the solution to part of the problem.
Refusing to sacrifice honest, intelligent scrutiny for violent thrills, Burnett's examination of racism and identity through vivid mugshots of a social and legal system bloated with corruption, is both a savage indictment and a taut thinking person's thriller.