Septiembres/Septembers
I attended the opening night festivities of Cine Las Americas film festival. Septiembres was the opening film and while it promised to be a documentary about a music contest in prison, it turned out to be a lot more. Most of the audience appeared to expect something more like American Idol with a lot more ins and outs of the competition. The film itself is sandwiched between two Septembers, the time of year the competition takes place.
Carles Bosch, the director, said the film actually started like an American Idol favor for the participating inmates - taking the prison competition and making it look as big as possible for the participants to be able to send their families a DVD. After that, though, the film was born and grew into an intimate portrayal of various kinds of confined love within the co-ed prison and outside the walls. The only kind of love missing was the brutal expectations Americans of come to expect from prison life.
We get to see growing and even disintegrating relationships and families grow. Near the end of the film, got a sudden jolt as if I were eavesdropping too much on a conversation. I've seen enough Reality television to expect the right to be a voyeur, but this documentary was a much more sincere look into the lives of the inmates.
In the United States, the Supreme Court just re-affirmed the death penalty as constitutional and is considering whether or not to expand it to crimes other than homicide. In the prisons we view in this film, several audience members were taken aback at the freedoms they were granted. Where the inmates likely saw slight niceties to help them get through the day - I saw a heel that could be used as a weapon, a guitar that could be used to overtake the guards... In the US, we banned hair extensions and braids in several prisons years ago.
Carles Bosch was asked if this freedom were typical, and he pointed out that the song festival itself took place in various prisons, but the grand finale was held in one of the more secure prisons with violent offenders. They, however, were in another building and since they were anti-social to begin with, weren't really a risk to consider when holding the festival. The freedoms observed were constitutional rights in Spain.
What the film makes plain is that confinement is quite enough to impact someone heavily. There is an overtone of anger, spite and vengeance when prisoners are discussed usually. Even the Supreme Court considering expanding the death penalty points to the increasing number of laws attempting to expand the death penalty and Scalia says, "It's the trend that counts." So, if our trend is more dehumanizing and angry, it seems some of the court will endorse the trend and a standard of our legal morals.
Even when freedoms like marriage or family gatherings ae seen in the film, we and everyone in the film is reminded they are in prison as a hand closes the door on the intimate gatherings and locks the prisoners and their family in the room. One of the singers celebrates New Years by dressing up and sitting in her cell with a friend until midnight, at which point the inmates yell out their windows to each other to celebrate. While it might seem like a lot of freedoms, it is quite obvious the impact confinement has on human beings. Those mothers, siblings and lovers outside and inside the walls. Any additional mistakes they make can aggravate their loss and any change in policy drive families further apart.
The film had a graceful end, but during the Q & A afterwards with Bosch, several of the people who repeatedly raised their hands for attention sighed when someone asked "What happened to them all?" All of the prisoners but one openly admitted to their crimes ranging from bank robbery to buying drugs. There was no question of guilt or the right of the Spanish justice system to punish them from the audience or the prisoners. Even with the freedoms that seem extreme to Americans, you can feel pain of confinement. The audience seems to want everyone to be released, which is the ultimate question of "What happened to them" when asked of prisoners. They don't want them to be released because they shouldn't be punished, but because the sense of confinement we are able to explore through the theme of love.
Bosch points out that 80% of prisoners in Spain are first time offenders, which shows a low rate of repeat offenders. I'm left wondering after the film if the ability to be human and express your humanity through song and love doesn't allow for greater individual reform. It's easier to be reminded of your loss when you are able to taste a bit of what is still fully out of reach over the years.
One disappointment was the prospect of distribution, even of the DVD within the United States. Carles Bosch didn't seem optimistic at all, and the film certainly goes against the expectations or seeming desires of the American public in regards to humanizing people who commit crimes. I personally think this film can be used as a Scared Straight tactic as well as advocacy for prisoners. Sacred Straight has a famous scene where a prisoner explains to at-risk kids that he could easily jump over the table and rape them before a guard could interfere. This film reached for the humanity instead.
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