a review of

five stars for the footage, interviews, and commentary shared by the inmates. these guys are so fucking based. truly so impressive to be able to organize a statewide prison strike at all, let alone from within prison. we need a global labor movement. organize, organize, organize. abolish prisons. fuck modern slavery. nobody is free until we are all free. i'm not surprised the narrative and footage were handled in an utterly incompetent manner by the two white directors...i'm not surprised, but i am still disgusted. the commentary from the inmates (and the truth) indicate that this is not an alabama problem...this is a problem with the entire us prison system...yet the dumbass directors are hellbent on making this a story about how bad the alabama prisons are. it's misguided and harmful to the abolition movement. they do not mention racial disparities within the prison population a single time...incompetent. then on top of that they choose to center a single narrative of a white man who was killed in prison...such a dumbass narrative decision i don't even know where to start. the documentary (aside from the footage from within prisons) is literally negative stars. atrocious. cannot believe (and yet also not surprised) that this was nominated for and won awards. this film is much too broad and unfocused at all the times the subject matter demands more detail...and it is much too narrow at all the times the subject matter demands more context. it gets essentially everything about the story wrong from a narrative perspective. if you are interested in learning more about the horrific conditions within us prisons, watch attica (1974) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG1f7FzgXY8] or 13th (2016). both are essentially flawless, essential viewing.