When you start to watch a film about a bank robbery, it’s usually going to be from two perspectives – a group of thieves who are making a heist or from the terrified patrons trying to survive. But Breaking takes on another perspective – a desperate man pushed to his limits who is just doing what he needs to try to survive.
Based on a true story, Breaking tells the tale of Marine Veteran Brian Brown-Easley, who after being denied his VA Benefits, decides to hold up a bank until his benefits are restored. While the flaw in logic is obvious, the bank workers do what they can to save the guests and other employees – while Brown-Easley waits for his demands to be met. This, of course, leads to several stressful and intense moments in the film and makes viewers wonder what they would do if they were in that situation.

But the story isn’t as simple as that. It’s not just a bad guy doing a bad thing, instead, it’s a man that the system failed. His desperation was caused by a mistake in the system. A system that continued to fail him despite him doing everything he was told to. Even throughout the hold up Brown-Easley stays mostly polite to the workers and does intent on hurting them.
The movie shows a different side to the crime, that it may not always be as cut and dry as the good guy and bad guy scenario. And the ending is just as tragic as you can imagine. You feel for Brown-Easley, and hope for a better ending than you know is going to come. It speaks volumes about the current state of some of the benefit systems and how one hold-up in the system can have devastating effects on a person. And if that were to happen to you – what would your breaking point be? Add in racial inequality, and the film makes it known that Brown-Easley never had a chance once he made his decision to take on the system.
Breaking was previously known as “892” but is opening in theaters as Breaking. The film will be at all of the local AMC, Emagine and MJR theaters plus other smaller venues.
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About Breaking:
When Marine Veteran Brian Brown-Easley is denied support from Veterans Affairs, financially desperate and running out of options, he takes a bank and several of its employees hostage, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with the police. Based on the true story.