Sing Sing

It may not be the most original premise for a narrative, but director Greg Kwedar has crafted a touching and sincerely felt story of redemption through artistic endeavour in a high security prison in upstate New York.

Rather than locking away offenders and forgetting about them, Kwedar makes a convincing case for giving inmates hope through a collective programme of theatre and dance leading to an inventive and ambitious production within the walls.

Kwedar and his co-writer take a slow burn approach with most of the interaction taking place in large hall as the group uncover inspiration and friendships.

Using a mix of both professional and amateur actors the film reveals the intimate details and attitudes of these incarcerated individuals, among them Colman Dingo, who plays Divine G. Without finding a sense of common purpose with his friend Mike Mike (Sean San José) it is not obvious how he might have survived the passing years of his sentence.

The screenplay draws on real-life as well as imagined sources in which the initiative’s programme director Brent Buell (played by Paul Raci) builds a portrait of life without freedoms.

The group’s fallback inspiration is the works of Shakespeare but the idea of making an original story has more of an appeal with roles for absolutely everyone in the group.

The restorative power of artistic endeavour is at the heart of Kwedar’s concerns as well as the basic human need for self-expression.

Sing Sing is one of America’s most infamous maximum security facilities often seen in old style gangster films. The fact that both Kwedar and Bentley worked on the scheme as volunteers gives the narrative depth of feeling and an intimacy with their subjects.

As one of the inmates so succinctly puts it: “Brother we’re here to become human again, to put on nice clothes and dance around and enjoy things that are not in our reality.”

Awards buzz already has started around the film and Colman Domingo’s understated performance. It’s heartening to see how a 'quiet' film can start to make a noise almost unannounced.