:
Hank Rogerson,
Jilann Spitzmiller
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Shout! Factory
: 93 min.
: English
see additional details...
|
|
Like most prisons, the Luther Luckett Correction Complex in LaGrange, KY, strives to offer inmates a chance to better themselves and explore options to a life of crime, but something they feature that most prisons don't is a theater program. Each year, the inmates stage a play for the benefit of their fellow prisoners, and in 2004 they decided to tackle William Shakespeare's The Tempest; while an outside volunteer helped to direct the play, the bulk of the crew and the entire cast came from the prison population, and filmmakers Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller documented the long gestation of this unusual production in Shakespeare Behind Bars. Along with offering a look at the rehearsals as the often-unlikely cast members learn to find themselves in their roles, the film includes interviews with many of the show's participants as they struggle to reconcile their pasts and search for personal meaning in their portrayals. Shakespeare Behind Bars premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
|
| Why Willie Will Always Remain
by talltale
August 7, 2006 - 3:10 PM PDT
|
|
Should Willie the Shake (a friend of mine's favorite name for The Bard) have the opportunity to come back, even briefly, to choose his favorite amongst the oodles of appearances his plays have made on film and/or TV (648, according to the IMDB!), I wonder if he wouldn't pick, not Olivier's "Hamlet" nor even Branagh's "Henry V", but SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS, if only to attest to the amazing staying power his work still carries--the words, themes, timeliness and emotions. I also suspect he might identify strongly with the men in this wonderful documentary that tracks a group of prisoners in one forward-thinking Kentucky prison.
We watch them rehearse "The Tempest," grapple with the roles and the language (under the tutelage of one smart director/sponsor), and talk to the camera about who they are, why they are in prison, and the reasons they choose to take part, over an over, in this special drama program the prison offers. Their understanding of and love for Shakespeare's work comes across so strongly and honestly that I think this is what moved me most. I also found their honesty about their various sexualities--straight, gay, bi--and their caring for each other and their joy in the possibility of each man's parole surprising and enriching. The documentary meanders some and doesn't--can't--tell you everything. But what's here makes quite a feast. |
|
|
GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.80)
5 Votes
add to list 
|
|
|
Your cart
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.