Simply A Masterpiece

Nice effects though.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This documentary enables us to understand the problems, conflicts that are a day in day out situation in a neighborhood plagued by violence. Its quite moving to see ex felons and gang leaders working to prevent the youngsters making the same mistakes they did. Violence is like virus and it shows the struggle of few and their persistence to make a difference how ever small it might be. We get to see the trans-formative effect that the group is having on the youth. We get to see and feel the loss experienced by families and friends due to violence. This documentary does not provide answers but sure makes us think deeply about a critical issue. Life is not easy and fair, it teaches us the importance of forgiveness in order to live a peaceful life. An eye for an eye is only going to make the whole world blind.

Only 9 reviews?!! This movie needs to be seen! I live in Chicago, and every morning the Chicago Tribune has a headline tallying the overnight wounded and dead. It's not at all unlike the beginning days of the Gulf War, where every news hour would begin with the number of soldiers killed that day. The difference being that those stories gradually subsided as the numbers dwindled, and they were based on deaths in an actual military conflict. There are neighborhoods in Chicago that are as much like war zones as any area of Afghanistan, but no one is paying attention."The Interrupters" doesn't really try to address why no one is paying attention. It doesn't need to, because everyone pretty much knows the answer even if they're not willing to admit it to themselves. These aren't rural white kids getting killed for their country; these are poor, disenfranchised black kids who most people don't care about. Instead, this documentary follows a few members of CeaseFire, a nonprofit group comprised of past gang members, street criminals, etc. who are now using a tactic of intervention to stop chains of violence before they spiral out of control. These people are deeply admirable. They're not trying to break up gangs, they're not police informers. They're simply trying to make one person understand how pointless it is to shoot another person, no matter what grievances are at play.This film is by Steve James, the same director who did the tremendous "Hoop Dreams," and if it doesn't have that film's epic scope, it has a more immediate sense of urgency.After watching "The Interrupters" my wife and I were instantly online looking into ways to support CeaseFire. I hope others do the same.Grade: A+

This film takes a year-long look at the work of a group of volunteers trying to reduce murders and violence in inner-city areas of Chicago. They do this by intervening wherever possible, trying to mediate on the streets between those reading to kill over as little as $5 or a perceived slight, cool the anger before it spills over into bloodshed. The majority of the volunteers have a background in the gangs themselves, have served jail time but were able to get out while they still have their lives. The film follows three of the volunteers during a year where the profile of the Chicago murder rate is raised to the national level.From the director of Hoop Dreams, this film gets right down onto the streets of Chicago and, while the volunteers are dealing with people ready to kill, the camera is right there too – getting good access and surprisingly natural footage from everyone involved. For the most part it is the capturing of this world that makes the film engaging because while many people (particularly on the internet!) would like to pretend they live in tough situations and are ready to turn to violence over nothing, the majority in the western world are not and certainly for me, I appreciated an insight into the world of those who are ready to pick up a knife and stab someone because of a slight on their family. The camera captures a real natural air when situations are at their most flammable and also in the one-on-one chats, but it doesn't quite manage it when there is a group. Sometimes when break-throughs are being made with groups, it does feel a little uncomfortable and I got the sense that the camera was becoming a little bit of an intrusion.Likewise, although it isn't overdone, the film also uses sentimental music a bit too often over the top of insights or breakthroughs – and it did annoy me a little bit because none of it actually needed this music. None of these things are bad though, just a little negative in terms of impact. This is covered by how good the chosen subjects are – in particular Ameena and Cobe. To my external ears they occasionally sound uncomfortable or odd or even a bit too much like they are saying platitudes and hyperbole, but yet they work and generally their words and attitudes make an impact – even if they don't always make a lasting impact on a person's life (although the goal is always to get through the immediate threat of violence). James makes good use of them and in Ameena he finds someone likable, charming, intelligent and empathetic – she doesn't just "say" what she is doing and feeling, she lives it and it comes out in every word; wisely she is the heart of the film.Overall The Interrupters is not a perfect film because it does occasionally overdo the sentimentality and gives the subject a sense of worthiness that they may deserve but that the film doesn't benefit from. It also doesn't have much of a sharp investigatory edge, a little of which it could have done with a little bit of, but otherwise the film is engaging and moving thanks to the ground-level access and the force of the personality and bravery of the volunteers focused on.

The Interrupters is frustrating. The three 'violence interrupters' which this film follows must have an endless supply of optimism and an iron will to go out there every day and try and convince people, who mostly are not looking to be convinced, that there are better choices than resorting to violence and revenge. A normal person would give up, probably on the first day, but not the CeaseFire interrupters. Most of CeaseFire's violence interrupters are ex-cons. This is actually a plus on their job application for a position like this. They know firsthand the consequences and utter futility which comes with choosing the violent option in an argument on the street. Their goal is to intervene in an argument's 'front end' before pistols are drawn from waistbands. Chicago has drawn national attention for the number of murders which happen on its streets every year, especially involving adolescents. The Interrupters follows a year in the life not just of the CeaseFire organization, but specifically three of their most committed mediators. The most engaging and interesting person by far is Ameena Matthews. She is the daughter of Jeff Fort, one of Chicago's most notorious gangsters, who made mistakes in her youth but is now out in force and ready to get in your face to show you just how wrong a choice violence is. With no fear, Ameena will walk in the middle of a large group of young gangbangers and give them a lecture on just where they are headed. Amazingly, these lectures usually work. You do not want to disappoint Ameena Matthews; she is one of the most persuasive and enigmatic people ever to show up in a documentary.Her fellow mediators are not as engaging as she is though. Cobe Williams is usually an interesting guy to follow, especially when he is trying to calm down a man known as 'Flamo'. Flamo has a particularly bad day when he first meet him and appears to be 100% ready to charge down the block and start a shooting spree. Cobe listens, nods his head, and then offers to take Flamo out to dinner thereby putting some distance and time between him and his problems. We check in with Flamo every now and then and he provides some segments of comic relief and even some hope. The third mediator is Eddie Bocanegra. He comes in a distant third on this list of three. Most of the time, he is with the family of a deceased young man who made some poor choices and ended up in a coffin. Eddie strikes up a relationship with the boy's sister and encourages her to draw to deal with her grief. The rest of the time, Eddie leads an art class in a local elementary school to teach the kids who are just a few years away from their prime ages of vulnerability to think through their choices to their logical conclusions. Eddie is never shown actually talking down violent situations like Ameena and Cobe are. He acts as more of a peripheral mediator rather than a down in the mud violence buffer, at least that is how the editing process shows him. The filmmaker, Steve James (Hoop Dreams), checks in with various at risk youth throughout the year. Some start off in very shaky and turbulent places but steadily pull themselves up and out of the gutter. Others, however, leave you shaking your head at the end acknowledging that there will most likely be many more failures for the mediators than successes. Happy endings really do seem few and far between in the streets of Chicago, even when there are extremely persuasive interrupters who guarantee that if you pull the trigger, you will not win in the end.