DuBose: ‘Interrupters’ documentary must-see TV for all
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| Violence interrupter Ameena Matthews is one of three featured in the documentary “The Interrupters.” With bravado, humility and humor, the interrupters try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. (Aaron Wickenden – Kartemquin Films) |
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For more information or to learn about how you can get a copy of “The Interrupters” on DVD, visit www.pbs.org, click on “PBS Programs,” and then on the “Frontline” logo. On the right side of that page underneath the header “Next on Frontline,” click on “The Interrupters.” To learn about CeaseFire, visit www.ceasefirechicago.org.
My kids weren’t thrilled about getting out of bed early on a Saturday morning, even for a movie, but my husband had already taken his psychology students to see “The Interrupters” and said it was one of the most important films he’d ever seen. So when the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva teamed-up with State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia to bring “The Interrupters” to the Randall 15 for an advance screening last month, I knew we had to go. Besides, we got to have movie popcorn for breakfast. What’s not to like? The kids were game, so long as they could bring their video games – because, they said, they knew they’d be bored.
Right.
But then the film opened with footage of a shooting on the South Side of Chicago that left a 16-year-old dead. That got my attention. Theirs, too. Suffice to say that those digital angry birds didn’t get a lot of play that morning.
“The Interrupters” is a documentary film about the work of CeaseFire, an innovative program where former gang members, many of whom have served several years in prison, track where violence is heating up and then cool the situation down by building relationships with those currently engaged in conflict. They literally interrupt shootings and save lives. And then they set about the hard work of changing minds. Their goal is to replace the violent impulses that land some in prisons and others in caskets, with problem-solving and big-picture thinking that, instead, give communities hope and their children a future. A daunting task, but it’s working.
The director of CeaseFire, Tio Hardiman, and Chapa LaVia were available after the screening to answer questions and to talk about their hopes that the film will have a powerful impact on reducing the gang violence killings of our children. Hardiman reported that last year alone, the interrupters spent 25,000 man hours on the streets. As a result of their efforts, they’ve seen a 40-45 percent drop in shootings and killings across targeted areas. Those numbers are stunning.
“You’ve got to go into the belly of the beast,” he said, “and build relationships. Breaking that cycle just takes time.” They take a public-health approach to interrupting violence, which they contend is “like a disease. It’s contagious. Violence is learned behavior and to cure it you need to interrupt it.”
I’m not the only one impressed with his group’s efforts or moved by this compelling film, created by Steve James, the director of “Hoop Dreams” and Alex Kotlowitz, author of the biography “There Are No Children Here.” Slate calls it “the most necessary film of the year” and The New York Times reported that it gives “a face to a raging epidemic and an unforgivable American tragedy.”
“The Interrupters” premieres on PBS’ “Frontline” on Tuesday at 8 p.m., so set your DVR if you have a hot date with your valentine.
By the way, if you’re sensitive to swearing and violence, you may want to view this film before sharing it with your middle-school and older kids. Bear in mind, though, that the swearing and violence they’ll see in this documentary isn’t included for the purpose of entertainment, so the impact isn’t the same as it might be in a feature film, in my opinion.
That said, our kids see and hear about some of these things already – in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and on our school buses. We’re not doing them any favors if we pretend that violence doesn’t exist out here in the ’burbs.
What can we do about it? For starters, we can write to our elected officials and to our governor and urge them to support funding for CeaseFire’s work. Then we can tell everyone we know to tell everyone they know to watch this film. Set your DVR to record it Tuesday night and find a time when your kids will be around to watch it with you and then process it with them afterward. Whatever you do, pop the popcorn. It’s must-see TV.
I knew my daughter had gotten the interrupters’ message when she volunteered that we can all be interrupters, “in our own lives.” Amen to that. But Holly learned first-hand that putting that into practice isn’t as easy as it sounds. For example, Thursday afternoon, after I picked her up from school, we observed a fellow fifth-grader we know shoving a smaller child onto the sidewalk. Whoa.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked the older girl after I slowed my car and rolled down the window.
“I didn’t mean to push her that hard,” she replied, shrugging, as the younger one got up off the sidewalk and quickly walked away. I don’t think that’s the interrupting Holly had in mind, but shoot, the violence that needs to be stopped isn’t just happening on the South Side of Chicago.
• Jennifer DuBose is a contributor for the Kane County Chronicle. She lives in Batavia with her husband, Todd, and their two children, Noah and Holly. She can be reached at jenniferdubose@msn.com.
