Shakespeare Behind Bars

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Audience Member You know I have never been in to Shakespeare, I would rather watch something else Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/31/18 Full Review Audience Member This is an honestly very good documentary, and a compelling story. The filmmakers followed around a group of inmates in a Kentucky prison as they prepared for a performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The result is both an engrossing and compassionate look at the lives of some tough criminals (including murderers and child molesters), and a unique testament to the universality of Shakespeare. The film was made over about a year, and so we get to see the ongoing dramas of the prisoners' lives, as well as their preparation process. Their stories are varied and interesting, and it's surprising how emotionally involved you get - everyone in the class I watched the film with really wanted to know what became of the various prisoners after the film was over. The filmmakers smartly do not foreground their own presence at all, so we feel a direct connection to the prisoners' lives. The film does make a strong case that everybody can benefit from and somehow relate to Shakespeare. For instance, there is the story of one inmate, a black African-American male, who seemed to really find himself identifying with the role of Miranda, the dispossessed heiress of an Italian dukedom in the play. All of the actors seem to genuinely care about the play in a way you sense they may not have cared about things in their previous lives. This could have seemed manipulated and artificial, but it's an indication of the film's skill that it feels very convincing. The idea of this film may sound strange to you, but I promise, it is worth watching. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a must-see documentary which demonstrates the basic point that inmates are human beings like th rest of us... Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member artful, inspiring but i had empathy fatigue by the end of it Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member I viewed this on Netflix Instant Watch- halfway through I jumped on Amazon and bought it. It touches two nerves for me- the value of Shakespeare and the value of a human being. This is what art is supposed to be about- transcendence and transmutation. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Really powerful and effective documentary. The filmmakers wisely eschew the "Michael Moore School of Documentary Filmmaking," where the filmmaker places himself front-and-center, and instead sit back and allow these hardened-- yet strangely vulnerable-- murderers, drug dealers, and child abusers to tell their own story. Some critics have argued that the movie revels in a type of empty-headed liberalism, humanizing brutal people to the point that the audience will identify with them and feel that their incarcerations are unjust. Wrong. By showing these men, the filmmakers simply point out that these people are human beings, no matter how often we might describe their crimes as "inhuman." There are plenty of them that I hope are never released, but I can still feed sad for them, seeing what their lives have come to. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Shakespeare Behind Bars

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