Our America

First of all, disregard anything the last post said. "Socially Irresponsible" is the last thing yous should say about this movie. If you want to call anything or body irresponsible, it should be our government for allowing fellow Americans to live like this. I noticed the person who posted last is from orange county and its really crazy that people who don't live in these situations are so quick to judge. This movie was one of the best projections of the "projects" that I've ever seen. Growing up in South Central L.A and Chicago's Robert Taylors, I'm here to tell you that EVERYTHING that was mentioned in the movie is true. This is one of the best "hood" movies I've seen yet. And as far as the game they were playing on the overpass, when you are poor, you'll find fun things to do on nothing. Of course it wasn't right, but kids are doing far worse things than that.

In Chicago, the Afro-American teenager friends Lloyd Newman (Brandon Hamond) and LeAlan Jones (Roderick Pannell) win a contest promoted by the successful producer Dave Isay (Josh Charles) of NPR – National Public Radio – for a documentary about the daily life in the ghetto where they live. They prepare a documentary showing their routines, the life in their neighborhood, and it becomes controversial, with some negative reviews of important persons of their community. Nevertheless, they are awarded as the 1997 Chicago Citizen of the Year. Dave becomes a close friend of the boys and their families, and they decide to prepare another documentary about the death of Eric Morse, a young kid dropped from the 14th floor of a building in the compound by two other boys on 14 Nov 1994. They win the prestigious Peabody Award with their work. "Our America" is a good movie based on a true story and is about the dramatic situation of many poor people living in ghettos and slums. The story happens in North America, but it could have happened in any country in South America, Afrika, Asia, and even Europe. I liked this film because it touches a serious wound, the social debt of the society with many persons. Further, it is not corny, but it gives some hope, when we see two boys like Lloyd and LeAlan having a chance to improve their lives. It emphasizes the importance of friendship and sympathy, to help those who need. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Território Violento" ("Violent Territory")

I don't agree with the first reviewer at all. The movie does show illegal activities on the part of the main characters as he pointed out, but that reality needs to be shown for the movie to be the least bit credible. The vandalizing of private property is not, unfortunately, and uncommon occurrence for young people. The movie shows that if you can reach these young people before random acts of vandalism grow into more serious criminal acts, you can save lives and improve society. The movie does have a unique message because it depicts, in a powerful way, the negative "world" that many similarly situated inner-city youths face. And.. it is inspiring because it reminds us of the untapped potential that may be festering beneath the surface, just waiting for inspiration and guidance. As I usually find with these kinds of movies, it takes both an intellectual thirst, and intellectual maturity, to truly appreciate the film in the way it was intended.

There is much not to like about the movie "Our America". The stereotypical nature of most characters involved, the great white savior aspects, and the alternating afternoon special light weight fare that switches to riveting restricted viewing violence are all reasons to dislike the film. If a person approaches this film as laughable lightweight fare on par with "Finding Forester", then they can extrapulate some good from it. The discussions that can result from the film are numerous. The two lead characters' tendency to listen to the radio hosts and apparently fail to have any mentionable adult ties to those in their own community. Muhammad Ali once made the joke, "Where are the real pilots" when talking to an all black flight team. His humor was a healthy adjustment. The students in this film appear to have the typical unhealthy internalized doubt of those in there community as much of what they reported was negative while outreaching to the strangers at the radio show. This film makes a launching point for discussions on race and socioecomics.

I live in Singapore. All the way the other side of the world, in Southeast Asia. I lead a comfortable life, there are no ghettos here. No shootouts. And this movie isn't the first I've watched about living in the ghetto or about the nitty gritty harsh realities of life that I have been lucky enough not to experience myself.

But I don't need to be in the ghetto nor do I need to have lived through them in order to empathise with the characters. This movie's portrayal of the common human condition was convincingly moving enough, without it being overly sappy, that I who live on the other side of the world am able to identify with their emotions and feel for the characters.

For that, I do think it was overall a good movie.