Everyday Activist - Chasing Bonnie & Clyde (MLJFF 2015)

Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 08:00 AM

Chasing Bonnie & Clyde 

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

The title is misleading, because while the documentary talks about legendary bandits Bonnie and Clyde, we find out about the justice system in the state of Texas and modern youth criminals. Chasing Bonnie & Clyde's story weaves its way through the all too common poverty to prison pipeline narrative. What differs in this case is that people realize the cost savings of early intervention. Much like people suffering from mental health issues, the crimes committed stem from lack of meaningful work and healthy communities. The youth interviewed in the film often come from broken homes with abusive situations, while others have mental health issues, sometimes coupled with learning disabilities.

The film makers brilliantly captured professionals speaking about the prison industrial complex. Capitalism can only exist with exploitation. Prisons served as a means to make money for certain individuals on the free labor of others, especially after the abolition of slavery. In certain agricultural areas, prisoners became free farm labor. Thus trivial offences, such as vagrancy could lead to incarceration in order to keep a steady supply of labor. Used as a tool for rehabilitation, farming can heal. In Folsom, California, the produce raised by the prisoners supplement the feed at the local animal sanctuary for wild animals needing care.

Interestingly enough the cost of incarceration became too expensive and thus Texas, as well as other states introduced a new model of proper rehabilitation, giving these youth a chance at a better life through education. The issue brought together officials from both the Republican and Democratic sides of Congress to make Texas a better place for people. In some programs, people received skills in trades to assist them with the transition outside of prison. If previous offenders have opportunities to make honest income, they tend not to reoffend. The rehabilitation programs mentioned in the documentary have successfully broken the cycle of violence in certain youth and in turn, those youth come back to those same programs to teach others a different life is possible, through hard work and creativity.

I wish this film was screening at a better time and location during the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival 2015, so more people could see it. Chasing Bonnie & Clyde has such a hopeful message as well as it’s one of the few times we see professionals address the actual causes of crime. The free screening of Chasing Bonnie & Clyde will be shown at lunch time, 12:15 PM on Wednesday, November 18th, 2015 at the Stephen Leacock theatre at Mount Royal University.

Calgary Showtimes: Chasing Bonnie & Clyde >