Al sur de Los Ángeles

I just wanna say that I caught the last hour of the movie, I have no idea how it started but I was watching the DVD lady Jane and I paused to see what's on TV and there it was, South Central, and I watched the part in prison where Ali defends his friend from the mob inside by giving them what they need from cigarettes and services in return to stay away from the black inmate. The encounter between Ali and boy's father where he describes what happened to his son was the most powerful scene I've seen in any movie, it brought me literarly to tears. Another strong scene was the final 5 minutes, I'll let you discover it for yourselves because you'll be blown away, I don't know why the rating is so low in quantity and in quality, I'm giving it a 9/10 for its strong performances and also a great theme where it touches the source of Black gang violence and how a small corrupted group can effect the whole community, on the other hand also how a corrupted gang member can also be saved by a strong willful cultured person like Ali.

Great Movie, a must see...

South Central (1992) is a movie I recently rewatched on HBOMax. The storyline follows a man that grew up thinking the gang life would be the life for him. Shortly after his son is born he is sent to jail for ten years where his gang affiliation protects him from other inmates. When he discovers his son has joined the gang he is part of and starts his own life of crime, the father reforms, drops out of the gang, and works to gain parole so he can get out of jail and hopefully save his son from the life he lived. This movie is directed by Stephen Milburn Anderson (Ca$h) and stars Glenn Plummer (City of Lies), Byron Minns (Black Dynamite), LaRita Shelby (Martin), Reginald T. Dorsey (Hill Street Blues) and Tim DeZarn (Fight Club). The storyline for this film is very well done and does a great job of developing the characters so that you genuinely care about what happens to them. The roots of the storyline and why people make decisions is well told. The prison dynamics are also well presented. I really enjoyed the messages and the scriptures used to mentally get the father where he needed to be. The film also does a great job of showing how the responsibilities of parenting changes your perspectives on life. The evolution of all the characters in this film over the ten years are a delight to see and this is a powerful film that is really well done. While not perfect, I still strongly recommend this gem and would score it an 8/10.

Years ago I saw Donald Bakeer speak to talk about his book, "Crips", and upcoming movie, "South Central," based upon his book. I saw the movie then but I lacked the maturity and life experience to truly understand the significance of the movie. It wasn't Godfather, nor Scarface, nor was it Boyz n the Hood--this was a story of reformation.

Bobby Johnson (Glen Plummer) helped start the Deuce gang in L. A. (I remember Mr. Bakeer saying that the name "Crips" couldn't be used in the movie) with friend Ray Ray (Byron Keith Minns). Bobby earned his heart tattoo after killing a local drug dealer named Genie Lamp (Kevin Best). Bobby would serve time for that murder and reform while in prison. His sole goal became saving his son.

I really appreciated this movie's message and direction. Reforming would be hard, changing one's attitude would be hard, and doing all of that in the same environment would be doubly hard, but someone has to break the cycle so why not let it be you.

This movie was filmed around the time of the Rodney King riots that ripped South Central Los Angeles. Let's face it, the heart and soul of Los Angeles isn't Hollywood. It's the people like in this movie who try to make living, earnestly, honestly, and respectively. Sadly, this film is still realistic to the plight of urban problems. I spent a lot of time in one of the great urban cities of the East Coast and the problems of poverty, the lure of leading drug dealing lives is real and tempting, domestic violence, child abuse, gangs, etc. still exist and will exist much to the attempts of prevention or society ignoring their presence. Anyway, this film is truly about the heart and soul of a city of ten million Angelenos and the father's attempt to save his son from a life of crime, violence, death, and drugs in the city. It's not an easy battle.

This movie is one of the best in this genre,I think of it among with "Boys N the hood" and "Menace to society". It shows how hard it can be to grow up in a bad neighborhood,and how easy drugs and criminal life takes over.