Monsters and Men  Monsters and Men is a 2018 an American drama film written and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. It was released on September 28, 2018 by Neon. Although not explicitly stated, the plot shows a similarity with the death of Eric Garner incident, by which it was assumed the film was inspired. The film is told in three intertwined stories of three principle characters: Manny, Dennis and Zyrick. The film begins with Dennis Williams (played by John David Washington) being pulled over by police but let go because he is a cop himself. The story switches to Manny Ortega (played by Anthony Ramos) trying to apply for a job, but hesitates on the convicted felon section of the application. Manny lives with his family including wife Marisol (played by Jasmine Cephas Jones), mother and daughter. Manny goes out to hang out with some of his friends when a cop rolls up near their dice game. In an incident very similar to Eric Garner's death, six police officers attempt to arrest Darius Larson, a friend of Manny's who sells loose cigarettes outside a small bodega. While unclear what transpires, a cop fires his gun and kills Darius while Manny is recording the entire incident from his phone. Manny, traumatized by the incident, returns home and rewatches the video. The next day in a newspaper, he sees that cops said Darius was reaching for their gun. While sitting in a park, Manny is confronted by two cops who attempt to intimidate him into not releasing the video. He tells Marisol the truth about the incident and how Darius didn't reach for the gun, but she cautions him to avoid any public disclosure because of his new job. Manny then sees a suspicious black vehicle outside his apartment that leaves when he gets close. Manny checks his apartment to make sure they didn't break in. Not willing to be bullied, he puts his video out on the internet for all to see. He sees the effects of this video in the press and out on the street. But shortly afterwards, he is arrested by the same cops who tried to intimidate him in the park. During his interrogation, they tried to pin a gun to Manny that they found on his friend Victor. The narrative focus then shifts to Dennis Williams via the interrogation mirrored window. Dennis goes out on patrol with his partner. Dennis asks Stacey (played by Cara Buono), a white woman, how many times she has been pulled over this year, and she says none, alluding back to the opening scene.