This blog will present news items about the motion picture business, with emphasis on lower budget, independent film in most cases. Some reviews or commentaries on specific films, with emphasis on significance (artistic or political) or comparison, are presented. Note: No one pays me for these reviews; they are not "endorsements"! Starting in May 2016, many of the reviews for new feature films have been done on a hosted Wordpress site, and this blog now mostly does shorts and older films.
Since the 1990s I have been very involved with fighting the military "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and with First Amendment issues. Best contact is 571-334-6107 (legitimate calls; messages can be left; if not picked up retry; I don't answer when driving) Three other url's: doaskdotell.com, billboushka.com johnwboushka.com Links to my URLs are provided for legitimate content and user navigation purposes only.
My legal name is "John William Boushka" or "John W. Boushka"; my parents gave me the nickname of "Bill" based on my middle name, and this is how I am generally greeted. This is also the name for my book authorship. On the Web, you can find me as both "Bill Boushka" and "John W. Boushka"; this has been the case since the late 1990s. Sometimes I can be located as "John Boushka" without the "W." That's the identity my parents dealt me in 1943!
"They Call Us Monsters": juveniles charged as adults for violent crimes learn screenwriting in a California prison
On Monday, May 22, 2017, PBS aired “They Call Us Monsters”,
directed by Ben Lear, a documentary about the growing trend to try juveniles
with violent offenses as adults.
The film starts with a depiction of a juvenile case in 1976,
and moves to the 1990s when Newt Gingrich says that if you commit an adult
crime, you’re an adult.
Then it moves to a high security facility in a desert area
in California where an English and screenwriting teacher, Gabe, himself about
30, comes to the jail and shows them how to write a 10-minute screenplay which
he will fund and shoot for a festival.
These are all kids facing life sentences for murder.
Gabe starts by creating hooks, by asking the kids to write
down five fears.
Gradually, scenes from the developing screenplay mix with real
videotape of the teens being arrested.
The cases for some of the kids, especially
Jarad, progress in court. Curiously, the subject of tattoos, in conjunction with gangs, comes up.
Then the documentary moves to state legislatures where the
debate gets into the area of the teen brain, as immature and not able to see
around corners, as Dr. Phil has explained. But “evil” is possible, and it’s clear that
parenting (and many other factors) cause some teen boys to develop “moral”
maturity much earlier in life than others. There is a tremendous variation in
the rate of brain maturity achievement. Some specialists say that too much
screen time or lack of social interaction in the real world will delay brain
growth.
One of the legislators weighs recognizing the victims against the biological immaturity of the teen perpetrators.
In the final scene, Jarad (a teen father) is sentenced to 160 years to life.
PBS followed with a short film "Facing Life" by Dan Birman, depicting a convict named Cyntoia, a model prisoner, now 28, with 39 years more to serve. The film says there is "no endgame". I thought the feature could have mentioned chess in prison.
No comments:
Post a Comment