The Alabama Solution is a documentary about the inhumane conditions within Alabama state prisons and the prison system at large. Shot mostly through covert footage captured by inmates on contraband cell phones.
For anyone familiar with incarceration in the US none of this, unfortunately, should be a surprise. The understaffing, the overcrowding, the corrupt use of labor, the violence, the lawsuits, the cover-ups, the list goes on. What we're shown may be a bit more extreme than in other similar documentaries, Alabama is clearly one of the more egregious states as far as these practices and it's white populace demonstrate less compassion for prisoners and less understanding of the nuance, nature, and history of the criminal justice system particularly in regards to race. Even so, the situation is applicable nation-wide. And focusing on Alabama in particular draws a sharper contrast with the issues at hand.
What is most effective and most heartrending about The Alabama Solution is that the inmates themselves are foregrounded, directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman can only be heard briefly off-screen at the beginning and pretty much disappear. The conditions, lives, and history of the inmates are provided by themselves Robert Earl Council and Melvin Ray in particular are the backbone of the film and their insight and expertise is impactful. But what is even more apparent and more profound is Council, Ray, and all the inmates featured's humanity. And that is what comes through in the film most clearly, most powerfully. And so despite all the pain and suffering, despite the injustice, what we see is the strength, character, and resolve of these men.
A brutal portrait of correctional conditions and a testament to the spirit of those who must endure it.
Currently streaming on HBO Max.
Don't Miss It.
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