OPINION: Capturing footage needed for change

As much as I love good narrative filmmaking, I also like to give credit to powerful documentaries when they are able to stick within my head. It’s unfortunate documentaries aren’t as popular in theaters; I think a lot of people would enjoy the collective environment.

Still, I would like to talk about two documentaries this year which have stuck with me, both for the content they are documenting and the presentation of materials which scratch my itch for unique ways to tell stories.

The first, “The Perfect Neighbor,” was picked up by Netflix and showcases bodycam footage of a neighborly dispute slowly escalating until a tragic night when a woman shoots her own neighbor.

Susan Lorincz, a white woman in a predominantly Black neighborhood, frequently calls the cops on kids who are playing outside her home. The footage in the documentary is comprised of the bodycams from these visits, showcasing all communication the officers have with the neighbors.

At a certain point, the constant calls from Susan seem to annoy the officers, including one who turns to his partner and says this happens all the time. Knowing the eventual outcome, it creates a sense of casual dread.

To the doc’s advantage, the footage is presented in a mostly objective way. Minimal talking heads, little direction and the simple documentation of each visit grounds the doc in a way which will eventually make the shooting, where Susan shoots her neighbor Ajike Owens, that much more disturbing.

It’s a hard watch, one of the grossest, ickiest movies of the year. There is an interesting commentary about the sensationalism around the incident, that watching the incidents leading up to what we know will be tragedy is a sick form of voyeurism. I disagree.

Understanding the moment is powerful, and understanding Susan’s fear can create revealing moments. Susan, who clearly has racist views and lives in perpetual loneliness and fear because of it, will eventually rely on Florida’s stand-your-ground law to defend herself.

Susan clearly feared a Black woman would try to kill her. That stand-your-ground law, which has been used inconsistently and with imbalanced standards for violence against Black people, is standing on the idea that it’s socially acceptable to fear someone based on the color of their skin.

There are other issues at the core of “The Perfect Neighbor” as well. Gun control, especially for individuals with mental illness (Susan is shown early on to have some sort of impairment after she wanders into a private business, yet she still legally owns firearms), is undoubtedly needed.

It’s the greatest strength of these types of documentaries. Finding a problem, documenting the extent of the issue and leaving the viewer with a desire to see actionable change.

This leads to the second doc, “The Alabama Solution.” What fascinates me most about this doc is the method in which footage was collected. Inside the walls of Alabama’s maximum security prisons, the inmates collected the footage themselves.

Showcasing the harrowing conditions of Alabama’s most brutal prisons, inmates smuggle phones as contraband and document their own struggles. These facilities, aging and falling apart, are sometimes triple their capacity with not enough workers to be picky about those with the power to discipline.

These inmates are beaten, starved, isolated, demeaned and dehumanized. Even with limited resources, the advocacy shown between a brotherhood of inmates is inspiring and outraging when realizing the common opinion within Alabama is to ignore their pleas.

Radio inserts mocking the inmates for their complaints infuriate (one host says essentially if they didn’t want to go to prison, they shouldn’t have committed a crime). In a constant war trying to give these inmates any sort of decent light, cruelty seems to be a stronger motivator.

One of the very few quotes I’ve remembered throughout my life comes from Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative executive director. He said, in speaking about anyone persecuted of a crime, “Each one of us is worth more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”

The literal graph of paroles dropping so low in the late ‘10s in Alabama is one of the mythical pieces of raw, numerical evidence that proves there’s a problem without a shadow of a doubt. Change is still yet to come.

Until we are able to eliminate the idea that one human being can be more deserving of life than another will there ever be change. Inmates do not have the time to wait for litigation. As they waste away, mocked and brutalized, lawsuits crumple and investigations are delayed. There’s no time.

Within both “The Alabama Solution” and “The Perfect Neighbor,” what sticks is the moments of unity. In “The Perfect Neighbor,” it’s a family and their neighbors who come together to protect those grieving. Even though their mother may be gone, there’s optimism for those kids. They will grow and still achieve amazing things.

In “The Alabama Solution,” it’s the education of inmates who are advocating for themselves, becoming more than modern slaves even if the rest of the world would rather spit on them. Brotherhood is more powerful than the hell they’re stuck in.

There will always be the capacity to change the injustices around us. By successfully documenting the real issues with our world will we come to an understanding of what’s still left to do. Hopefully, even in the world of today, there can be change.