All the better documentaries I've watched lately are about social issues that are deeply infuriating, and require more emotional bandwidth to process than I normally have. It's taken me a while to work up to writing about them, but I definitely want to spotlight these films. I've got several that I want to talk about, so I'm grouping them by subject matter. Today, we're going to look at two recent docs that look at the state of the American justice system.
First up, "The Alabama Solution," directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman. This is an examination of the Alabama prison system, which is in such a horrific state that it prompted a federal investigation in 2016. Much of the footage of the appalling conditions inside the prisons was captured by the inmates themselves on smuggled cell-phones. The film follows the lives of multiple incarcerated men, including activists Robert Earl Council and Melvin Ray. We also see the progression of the investigations over multiple years, and an inmate strike that took place in 2022. Most damningly, the directors also dig into the financial incentives for the terrible treatment of the prisoners, who are exploited as a labor force and fuel the lucrative incarceration industry.
What is so effective about "The Alabama Solution" is that it is giving a rare voice and platform to the inmates. The cell-phone footage in particular is acutely disturbing because it shows the world as the inmates view it, unvarnished and uninhibited. Some of the same subject matter was covered in Ava Duvernay's excellent documentary "The 13th," but "The Alabama Solution" is far more direct and visceral, because we see the abuses up close. Probably the most important thing that "The Alabama Solution" accomplishes is humanizing its subjects, providing a portrait of the prisoners that stands in direct opposition to the political narrative being used to justify the indefensible actions of those in power. As with all documentaries about the American justice system, race may not explicitly be a central theme, but the divide between the predominantly black and brown inmates and the almost all-white Alabama politicians is obvious.
A smaller scale, but no less engrossing film is "The Perfect Neighbor," from director Geeta Gandbhir. In 2023 Ajike Owens, an African-American mother of four, was murdered by her white neighbor Susan Lorincz, in a case that became a subject of debate related to Florida's "stand your ground" laws. The majority of the film is composed of bodycam and other law enforcement footage, along with audio from 911 calls, documenting the two years worth of incidents involving Lorincz that led up to the killing. We learn that Lorincz was isolated and paranoid, constantly calling the cops on the neighborhood kids who played on her street. We learn that she and Owens had had confrontations before, leading Lorincz to claim she felt fearful and persecuted. From her interactions with law enforcement, we see that she's manipulative, selfish, and holds grudges.
Susan Lorincz makes for an infuriating subject, who seems to live in her own, miserable closed-off bubble where everyone is out to get her. However, what's more interesting is how she's treated by the police, especially in the final round of interrogations, which the director includes lengthy, uninterrupted portions of. The authorities seem to have endless patience with her in every interaction, always polite and giving her the benefit of the doubt, even when her claims are ridiculous. It's clear that this deference is a tactic in the interrogation scenes, which do not end well for her. However, it's still striking to compare the treatment of Lorincz to the prevalent image of overzealous policing we see with African-Americans and other racial minority groups. Director Gandbhir offers little commentary, allowing the footage to speak for itself. However, an exception comes at the very end of the film, where it is stated plainly that "stand your ground laws" are disproportionately used by white perpetrators against black victims.
Next time, we're going to look at two films about education. Stay tuned.
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