Sing Sing
- A massive high security prison complex on the Hudson River. 2. Literal — as Rehabilitation Through The Arts (RTA) works in prisons to promote therapeutic uses of drama, music and dance through a programme it developed there.
Whilst at first it appears to be a drama, the end credits reveal that the majority of the characters were, in fact, playing themselves. Even Divine G’s character (played by Colman Domingo) meets a book fan in prison, who is played by… the real Divine G. Which leads us to ask a question asked in the film ‘ were they acting at any time?’ Well yes is the answer, but not in the way we think — they’ve proved the power of the RTA programme in their words and deeds.
A deeply moving film about incarceration, male friendship, loss, grief- and how drama can empower people to express their emotions and themselves, healthily. Ultimately this leads to the men in the prison drama group speaking into each other’s lives, supporting, standing alongside, befriending. Even as alongside all this, they wrestle with the pain and guilt of their crimes, of the role models they’ve set for their children, of who they are — and who they want to become, of what day to day life looks like, feels like, of the roles they’re already playing.
Most powerfully, this is a movie about what it means to be human — as one character says this is a space where all the posturing of the yard and main spaces are set aside. Instead they get to have a laugh, dance around and learn how to be human again. Unlearning behaviours where cutting someone’s throat for sitting too close is a given, for example. There are some beautiful, beautiful moments as a very hard man gradually softens, inspired by Hamlet’s secrets. There’s a brilliant joke with a romantic gift of a very large rock. And a crazy comic play with pirates, Freddie Kruger, timey wimey stuff, ancient Egyptians searching for their lost mummy, gladiators — and more.
Paul Raci plays the theatre teacher Brent Buell who writes the crazy play ‘Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code’ — and inspires the prisoners to soar in drama. It’s about being willing to learn — and to change and grow, to see yourself differently and others too. At times he’s in tears — you will be too. But it’s also very measured — this isn’t another Dangerous Minds or Dead Poet’s Society. For the adult prisoners on this programme, they are criminals and judged criminals dealing with the consequences of the law and their actions (or what the law judges to be their actions). Divine G maintains his wrongful conviction and innocence, which makes his fight for education, creativity, literature, acting and writing even more powerful — and more personal. We feel the heartfelt knockbacks to his parole, and how sweet freedom is when he achieves this. We feel too his love for movement and dance — and how much he regrets giving this up due to peer and social pressures.
More deeply, it’s about the life-giving vitalness of creativity. About how much we need the arts, literature, theatre, Shakespeare, writers and playwrights, dance, music, plays to reflect, develop our empathy and compassion, and make us human. About how others creative words can empower and humanise us, about how performance and acting uplifts — and gives a glimpse of other lives.
Refreshingly, it takes its time without dragging, it’s very very funny, it’ll make you cry and move your heart — and the reveal in the credits makes you admire it all the more.
Find out more about the real RTA programme — The Inspirational True Story Behind Colman Domingo’s ‘Sing Sing’ (esquire.com)
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