To see, ARTISTS IN ABSENTIA, the sequel to this documentary, click here. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8N04Sx4L_xs.html To see the ARTISTS IN ABSENTIA web series, click here. ru-vid.com/group/PL9QlTHU-sKsNMsLYatm_vO7sCSthZlKPZ
An extremely enlightening film, highlighting a topic most shy away from about prison and the inmates. It raises an important concern regarding prison reform and potentially better ways to accommodate prisoners assimilating back into the world, and making them understand their actions, along with how to rectify their behavior in the future.
I really loved this film. It is so interesting to see the ways in which literature takes an individual's unique experiences and frames them in a way that allows us to understand them a little better. Very encouraging film!
Thank you. While I felt the same way as I made the film, I am sad to say that conditions in the United States have deteriorated since I completed it. If you recall from the documentary, 44 percent of the Oakhill Prison population was African American, representing a dramatic imbalance in terms of the percentage of Black men in America. This glaring difference did not happen over night; it came as result of poorly conceived laws and unjust enforcement. Criminal justice reform, a highlight of Donald Trump's time in office, needs to continue. The film was finished before the Black Lives Matter movement began in July 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. This was before the killings of Michael Brown, in Missouri, Eric Garner, in New York, George Floyd, in Minnesota, and other tragic killings of Black men around the country. I filmed the movie around the same time as Donald Trump began pushing the birther rumor against Barak Obama and well before Trump's racist presidential campaign, his response to the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, not to mention his voter fraud accusations in cities such as Philadelphia, Detroit, and Milwaukee, where there are large African American populations. Hopefully, with a new president who cares about repairing our shattered country, the first woman of color as vice president, additional criminal justice reform, and more people striving to seek out truth in the face of conspiracies and fake news, the current state of American will slowly improve.
This was a great film that expanded my knowledge about the benefits of critical thinking and what can be learned from studying the humanities. It looks at the idea of reshaping one's life in a new light, with new knowledge and very valuable research that studies how the humanities, classic literature, music and all modes of creativity can change one's perspective. Before watching this, I never would have thought of the idea that the humanities could be as, or more, important to inmates as it is to students and people trying to adopt new ways of thinking, but this shows it can be just as useful in rebuilding attitudes and frames of mind.
Thanks. I agree the humanities can help change one's thinking, but I won't claim that the study of them will fix the world. On an anecdotal level, I recall receiving an email from one inmate in the film who, after his release from prison, put his poetry-writing skills to work in order to woo his new girlfriend. I haven't heard from him in a while, am hoping they the relationship lasted.
Yes, the humanities provide a foundation. What the individual does with that foundation is the crucial thing. There are certainly writers from the past who were perceptive observers of the human condition, excellent stylists, yet miserable people.
I really enjoyed watching this. Raised so many questions not only about the important moral lessons we can learn from literature, but also about education as a determinant in a person's life trajectory.
Yes, to be sure, education plays an important role in determining one's life trajectory. As an elementary school teacher, I once thought that if only my underprivileged students could reach grade level in reading and mathematics, and leave me at year's end as dedicated young scholars, that would make all the difference. Alas, that was a naive take. Research findings I've read, coupled with my experience working with older students, and prison inmates, have schooled me to understand that racial inequality in America appears to be a more powerful determinant, beyond education and economic status. See my documentary, WHAT I DID IN FIFTH GRADE, produced after DOSTOEVSKY BEHIND BARS, for insight into what I learned. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KYV6sPTpLQE.html
Yes, that unfortunately does not come as a surprise that racial inequality and economic status are more powerful determinants. I will certainly check out the other documentary!
This was such an amazing documentary. Oakhill is a beautiful location for a prison. This is a great educational program for the inmates. Studying the Humanities and the Arts teaches us a different way to think about the world. I loved the music at the end of the video.
Thanks. Yes, the grounds added yet another humanizing element to the story. In some viewers' opinion, the prison grounds were too comfortable for prisoners. Those people, of course, seemed to forget that high fences topped with barbed wire surrounded the institution, and that the men behind the bars couldn't come and go like the volunteers. As for the sound track, adding music played by the graduate student and the inmates offered two advantages. It saved money, of course. More than that, it helped give the doc a more authentic feel. There are times when I find documentary film scores a bit too heavy-handed for my taste.
This was so interesting and heart-warming to watch. I think arts and the humanities is such a great way of encouraging empathy and morality, it may not be able to reach everyone, but it does make a difference for some people, it makes them more happy, aware, educated, an interested, which is so important and amazing. It's great that this project is helping so many people.
See my reply to Victoria K above. I volunteered first as an assistant teacher at the prison before bringing in my film crew, so I was not what one would call a disinterested observer in terms of the humanities. How I treated the men in the film speaks for itself. Meanwhile, I would like to think that the humanities makes a difference. My generation has done its part. It will be up to future generations to keep the passion for the humanities alive. Again, speaking, as a biased humanities lover, I believe the Covid-19 world needs them more than ever.
Really awesome documentary ! I loved seeing the power of using art and literature as a refuge. This film reinforced the notion of "Knowledge is Power." I also really liked to see how both the students and the teachers both felt that they got a lot out of the experience.
To be sure, art has provided me with a refuge much of my life. Refuge was the title of a play I wrote that brought me award money I invested in my first short narrative film. The play's title ultimately became the name of my independent film company.
To think about the power of literature! And not in a sense of how it can touch the souls the people that were perhaps more ignorant of their behavior in the past. But just how a simple availability of lit classes allows for that space and time for the prison inmates to go into the realm of thoughts they already had in them, they were already prepared for, but maybe never had the right circumstances to immerse into. Excellent documentary and a great initiative!
