Evolution of a Criminal

Darius Clarke Monroe tells his life-story in his self-directed documentary 'Evolution of a criminal'.

It deals with mostly his choice as a teenager to alongside his friends to rob a bank, how it affected him personally, his 2 friends who were there with him, his family and even some of his victims.

It's a honest movie and it's well-made in pretty much all aspects, the atmospheric music is close to perfect for the scenes they are in and it has some truly emotional scenes, especially towards the end.

There is a segment which Darrius sets out to interview his victims which might be a bit problematic as they are probably gonna struggle opening up to him.

Heck it would be hard enough to open up as a man to any random man about a traumatic event let alone someone who was the cause of it but it works okay for the morepart, and I suppose it was more about him saying he's sorry than anything else.

All in all a solid documentary well worth seeing.

An odd little flick: these 3 fools did everything but wear name tags when they robbed the bank in question. They bragged about at school the next day! It's almost as if he robbed the bank to go to prison to have a reason to make this film. There is one disturbing scene when the film maker confronts one of his "victims" who was at the bank that day and he doesn't get the "You're forgiven" response so many others in the film give him. Instead of the scene becoming a chance for the film to get at something much deeper, about crime & punishment, being black in America, etc., the film maker walks away. Not even an "I'm here to say I'm sorry" - nothing. The film maker also only did a few years in prison, and he's 300 lbs and 6' tall! Try going to prison for 20 years at 17 when your 5'6" and 120 lbs, cause it happens every day. THOSE are the people who's stories would make for an "Evolution of a Criminal" film. Not this guy. Evolution of a criminal? Not really. I'd hardly call this person a criminal. He barely did any time, and he still doesn't seem to take much responsibility for his actions and the repercussions those actions created. Worth seeing once, but, not at all what it is trying to appear to be.

Evolution of a Criminal was extremely enthusiastically received in its world premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. The young director, Darius Clarke Monroe, tells his own story of how a 16-year-old black teenager from a struggling working class family in Houston became robbed a bank to help out his family with its financial struggles. He went to prison for a few years and has since graduated from college and attended NYU's Graduate Film program. In the film, Darius interviews with his family, accomplices, victims at the bank (who were not physically harmed) and the prosecutor to tell the story of what happened to him. He combines the interviews with reenactments of the bank robbery and events around it. The story provides the audience with a powerful portrait of how a bright young man feels compelled to commit a crime to help out his family. We often forget that crime is often motivated by economic struggles and not some deep-seated character flaw.

This film also shows that it is possible to turn one's life around. The most powerful message of this film is that ex-convicts can be rehabilitated and become law-abiding citizens as Darius has. Those folks – especially here in Texas – who want to lock-up criminals and throw away the keys need to see Darius's story. I hope that this film is widely-distributed so that people can learn from Darius's experiences.