Shakespeare Behind Bars (Documentary)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: B-
There is
a certain strange hypocrisy in our society about crime and criminals. We see them glorified and celebrated in music
(Country Outlaws and Hip Hop Gangsters, for instance) and the Gangster genre is
as big as ever. But like the
glorification of drugs, it is not as pretty when the fun and energy has run
out. This brings us to prison and
prisoners. We love watching fiction
about them as hit TV shows like Oz
and Prison Break continue to prove,
but it is odd how disposable people in jail suddenly become in real life to the
same audience. That is why Hank
Rogerson’s Shakespeare Behind Bars
is of particular interest.
Here are
a group of convicted felons down in a prison in Kentucky learning what is
considered high culture and has a new wave of snobbery and elitism attached to
it of late, yet they can relate to the “dregs” and criminal characters better
than those living the life. The bard can
only go so far as a substitute for life experience, no matter how great he
was. We learn about each man and why he
is there. We see they really arte
grasping the material and counter to what some elitists might think, having his
books and plays alone would not have prevented them from landing up in
jail. The documentary never addresses
this one way or the other, but some people are just so ignorant. If anything, it simply reminds us that we
could easily be any of them under the worst circumstances, especially at a time
social programs and safety nets have been annihilated for tax cuts.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is softer than expected from some slight
fine digititis and was shot on video, but likely not HD. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at
best, but has varying quality in how talking was captured. The combination can be rough, but is still
watchable. Extras include deleted
scenes, trailers for two other Shout! Releases, director’s commentary,
prisoner’s commentary and update on the prisoners since this was released.
- Nicholas Sheffo
