True/False vet Pete Nicks embedded himself in the Oakland Police Department the year its world turned upside down. The Force, the second in a planned trilogy that began with the emergency room drama The Waiting Room, finds the OPD 13 years into a federally mandated reform program. Police chief Sean Whent seemingly has a firm handle on how to turn it around. Nicks follows the well-meaning chief, the department’s beleaguered communications director, and a mayor who races to corral runaway events. So much happens in the gut-punching final act that it could have easily spilled into a miniseries. Beautifully shot and recorded, with extraordinarily expressive editing, The Force is comfortable playing in murky territory and evoking questions left and right. The biggest one being — can any institution be truly reformed? (PS)