FILM

USA 2011 164 mins Dir: Steve James

A sprawling, artlessly constructed documentary from the director of 1994's Oscar-nominated 'Hoop Dreams', 'The Interrupters' approaches its fascinating subject matter in a style that might have been appropriate for a multi-part TV series but feels lumpy and ill-focused when consumed in one marathon sitting.

The film follows a trio of self-styled 'violence interrupters' from Chicago's innovative CeaseFire organisation over the course of a year. These aren't hand-wringing liberal outsiders, nor even upstanding members of the local community; they're former gang members who were once at one another's throats and now use those experiences to defuse street violence. "We got 500 years of prison time at this table," chuckles one of them at a CeaseFire meeting. "That's a lot of f*ckin' wisdom." The most interesting character here, on whom director Steve James might have been wise to focus exclusively, is Ameena Matthews: a feisty, middle-aged Muslim convert and mother of four. She's the daughter of Chicago's most notorious gang leader and seems utterly fearless when it comes to wading in to heated conflicts between youths armed with knives and guns. The other interrupters featured are former jailbird (attempted murder, since you ask) Ricardo 'Cobe' Williams, who has successfully turned his life around, and Eddie Bocanegra, who's still haunted by a murder he committed at the age of 17.

Interestingly, CeaseFire was founded by an epidemiologist who views street violence as a disease. The organisation is also quite clear about its narrow remit: to save lives rather than dismantle gangs. Even that is quite a challenge, especially when the subject hits the national news agenda after shocking cameraphone footage emerges of 16-year-old Derrion Albert being beaten to death outside the gates of his school. A montage of pathetic street shrines littered with teddy bears and sentimental tributes to fallen homies underlines that fact that most of the participants are children. And as teens file past a slain kid resplendent in his gang baseball cap at a funeral, it's observed, chillingly, that many of them get off on the whole ritual and like to imagine themselves in place of the deceased. Much is said about the hopelessness of lives in which petty disputes turn violent so quickly, but it's a shame the film never addresses difficult questions about whether black and Latino culture has any role to play in the carnage afflicting the youth of these communities. (Robin Askew)  

website http://interrupters.kartemquin.com/

Opens: August 26

Copyright Robin Askew 2011