Season of Change
A balmy Saturday morning before Christmas felt like an odd time to be watching films about the truth and consequences of gang life in L.A.-- subject matter that's about as anti-holiday as it gets. But no time is a good time, I suppose. And the viewing was also appropriate to the season: hard-bitten as they were, the films were essentially about redemption, second lives, and trying to live the one you've got conscientiously when circumstances almost forbid it. Or when circumstances taunt you outright. Jesus would sympathize for sure.
"Peace Process" and "Dilemma" were two standout short films of four that were screened Saturday morning at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center as part of the 16th annual film marketplace and short-film showcase sponsored by the Black Hollywood Education and Rescource Center. This group of films I saw was a sampling of a BHERC project called "Fight Back With Film," which aims to stem the tide of gang violence chiefly by encouraging filmmakers to raise the bar of storytelling. This the films accomplished, and then some. "Peace Process" is a documentary starring an amazingly poised young poet/seeker named Jabril, a 17-year-old foster kid on the cusp of gang membership who takes a microphone out into Inglewood and South Central to find out what people have to say gangs and about his own flirtation with the life. "Dilemma" is fiction, but no less absorbing--a feature about a young black man in juvenile camp who struggles to overcome the pain of seeing his younger sister shot to death in a drive-by by a Latino gang member who ends up in the same camp. It's all weighty stuff, but not without touches of humor and absurdity that make the core characters human--they are not gang members so much as people trying to cope daily with difficult-to-impossible situations. They successfully battle demons, or succumb to them. They are like protagonists and antagonists everywhere.
The panel that followed the "Fight Back" showcase, an assembly of gang interventionists and concerned citizens, made a similar case for changing the dynamics of gang violence by changing the story of the violence itself . Gangsters are not some creatures living on a distant planet programmed to kill innocent earthlings, they said; Gang members are somebody's sons and grandsons. They live amongst us. They are us. It felt like a first but enormously important step toward recovery of an addiction to racial fear and loathing that most of us in that theater had felt at one time or another. In the end, "fighting back" meant "going towards." I emerged out of theater back into the balm of the afternoon thinking that realization is the ultimate gift. Merry Christmas.
This image was taken by flickr user kevindean. It was used under the Creative Commons license.