Made in America

I recently saw this at Birmingham, Alabama's Sidewalk Film Festival. Stacey spoke afterward the screening about how the movie was shown many times to people in LA to make sure that he was getting the right angle. Also, that he spent months WITHOUT a camera getting to know the people that were featured in the film.

Living in Birmingham, being one the nation's most dangerous and racially-divided cities, I can see how this film is relatable to all oppression-linked crime.

I think that this issue is extremely too large for Stacey to have adjusted his focus any wider. To ask the director to squeeze more information into this documentary would be asking too much of him. I thought that it was, over-all, very interesting visually and in meaning which can be hard to come by in today's documentaries. I really hope HBO or some other distributer picks this doc up. It needs to be seen, not only by LA natives, but all of America.

I watched this documentary as part of the Independent Lens series on PBS, and thought it was great. The film covers a lot of topics related to the gang of South Central Los Angeles, from their earliest history to the socio-economic causes to the effect it has on real families. And it ends with a sense of hope that the people of that community can in fact put an end to the cycle.

It would be easy to do a documentary on this topic that reeks of white guilt or points fingers or cozies up to the gang members. But instead, this film takes a very neutral viewpoint. That's part of what makes it great. Plus, it's very well done technically. The soundtrack is outstanding, the narration is good, and the audio is unusually good for a documentary.

I give it an 8/10.

The documentary is pretty one-sided in terms of what it covers. But I don't begrudge that what it does address did lead to gangs (segregation, racism, etc.). The film tells this side well with good background and history. I learned a lot about LA racial history. However, the "criminal enterprise" aspect of gangs isn't really addressed at all. Gangs have structures, turf, and commerce. While they may have sprung from hopelessness and segregation, they evolved into criminal enterprises that are quick to use deadly violence.

I give this film 5 stars because it really addresses half the story. It is a good history lesson on why gangs came to be, but I would have liked to understand their structure and commerce more (the day-to-day reasons for their existence and brutality). The film kind of shrugs off the violence as gang members list many reasons why their lives suck. That's fine, but it really needed to be balanced more with what they gain from gangs through drugs, robbery and violence. The gang members are not powerless victims - they profit from and gain status from the violence.

I was lucky enough to be part of a select crowd last week to see the Los Angeles premier of "Made In America" in the center of downtown LA. The atmosphere was charged with excitement as many of the characters who appeared in the film were there to see it, many for the first time. Though there were were sound issues early, the power and integrity of the film could not be masked.

This is such an important film. It is so easy to live in this city, sitting back in condos in Sherman Oaks or fancy houses in Brentwood, and have no idea that a whole other city exists just south of the 10 freeway. Early on in the movie a number is thrown out; fifteen thousand gang related homicides in the past twenty years. Think about that for a moment. If that was happening in any other country, to any other race of people, there would be an out cry to the UN. In Los Angeles, it's just another day. Turn the page and see what Britney did this time. This is a story that needs to be told. The people of Los Angeles need to hear this. I heard some talk at the end of the film that they may try to show this in the LA school system. I hope that this happens. Knowledge is power. And, there is a message in here that needs to be shouted from the roof tops.

I have seen some critics try to attack Stacy Peralta, suggesting that a white, former surfer/skate boarder does not have the right to tell this tale. I would ask, if not him, then whom? Who else has stepped up to put their reputation on the line, to go into these neighborhoods with an open mind and open heart, and sacrificed years of their life to give a voice to this condemned segment of society? This has been Stacy's most ambitious project to date. I applaud his efforts and congratulate him on shedding light on a subject that most of America would rather ignore.

Please go see this film. Please tell your friends. It's not a romantic comedy. You will feel it in your guts for the next week or so. But, it's worth it, I promise.

Saw the film tonight at the LA Film Festival and really enjoyed it. It provides a history of LA gang culture from a social perspective, then jumps all the way back to slavery. It's not New Jack City or a history of crack. It's the story of a marginalized community right smack in the middle of the American dream machine. Although the stories are bleak and depressing, the film is one of the most positive efforts I've seen in years. Very different from Peralta's previous docs. He even refused to answer skateboarding questions from audience members and brought a lot of the main characters up on stage to take questions from the audience. I hope this doc gets the attention it deserves.