User reviews

A lot to absorb in this fascinating documentary about a black man sentenced to sixty years for armed robbery and the fight by his wife to get him released after a more reasonable period of incarceration, although twenty years is still pretty hefty all things considered. It's a story centred on the injustice system but at its heart is Fox Rich whose dedication, love and drive to get her husband freed shows a commitment few others could aspire to under these challenging circumstances. Innovatively filmed and presented, the saddest part is that we become increasingly immune to such injustice as it's so often encountered, especially within African American men.

I almost lost hope in this documentary, but that hope was rectified with the final 15 beautiful minutes. However even though the documentary finished strong, as a whole it really failed to grip me!

The overall backbone of the film, was for me the journey that the family experienced whilst growing up without a father. This journey for me was incomplete. As a viewer I wanted to know how the mother created her own narrative and was reborn from the ashes, completely rising up from the total desperation of before she was incarcerated. How the children were effected by this when they were small children to when they were adults. Not just raw footage of a baby and then current video of a graduation. The director showed us the beginning and the end, unfortunately I found no middle ground.

Greetings again from the darkness. "Our prison system is nothing more than slavery, and I'm an abolitionist." So states Fox Rich, a successful business woman, and the mother of six boys. Director Garrett Bradley brings us the story of this woman who devoted 20 years to the mission of getting her husband's prison sentence reduced. It was 1997, and the desperate Shreveport couple were arrested for armed bank robbery. Fox took the plea bargain, while husband Rob did not.

Fox served less than 3 years for her involvement in the robbery, while a Louisiana judge sentenced Rob to 60 years (the maximum sentence was 99), with no allowance for parole. Fox was pregnant with twins when Rob was sentenced. She named the twins Freedom and Justus. Director Bradley expertly weaves clips from the home videos Fox recorded for Rob with 'in the moment' discussions and observations of her attempts to get someone in the system to hear the case.

What we witness over the course of the film is a proud, strong, fierce woman who, as a single mother, raises 6 kids while she works - at her job and to get Rob released. Twice per month visits is all that she's allowed with Rob, which leads one of the sons to comment that hiding behind the strong family image is a lot of pain. Fox discusses how her mother taught her to believe in the American Dream, but desperate people do desperate things ... although we never get an explanation of just why Fox and Rob were so desperate to rob a bank. Fox's mother states, "Right don't come to you doing wrong", and then she turns around and compared incarceration to slavery.

There are some mixed messages delivered here, which is understandable given how complicated life can get. Perhaps the most vivid message is the impact incarceration has on a family. Fox is an extraordinary woman devoted to raising her sons as strong and smart young men. But she also decries that her boys have never had a father and don't even know the role one plays. While Fox displays the ultimate in polite phone decorum despite her frustrations with an uncaring, inefficient system, we do see her sincerity as she stands in front of her church congregation asking for forgiveness of her poor choices.

The film was highly acclaimed and talked about at Sundance 2020, and that's likely because it strikes hard at family emotions and societal issues. A prime example is the phone call between Fox and Rob just prior to his re-sentencing hearing. From a filmmaking perspective, the black and white images are terrific, and as previously stated, the home movies and "live" filming are expertly blended. On the downside, the sound mix is horrible at the beginning, and the music (beautiful piano playing) often overpowers the dialogue throughout. It's a film meant to create discussion amongst viewers, and it's sure to do so.

"It's almost like slavery time, like the white man keep you there until he figures it's time for you to get out." Robert Richardson's mother.

It's not what you would expect, this personal documentary narrated by Sibil Fox Richardson about the 21 years she waited for her husband, Robert, to be released from prison for a robbery he committed with her in 1997 in Shreveport, La. It is a quiet essay with almost professional grade home video for Sibil as she narrates the patient struggle to get her husband's sentence reduced from 65 years.

Although such a draconian sentence begs for the sobriquet of "Black racism," the doc, deftly directed by Garrett Bradley, makes few allusions to that societal challenge. It is rather, as its title succinctly suggests, a treatise on the passage of time with its attendant sorrows and its equally powerful hope: "God looks over the sparrows, Sibil. He's going to look over us," says Robert.

Sibil took a plea bargain of twelve years in order to attend to what would be six children, as handsome and articulate as their mom and dad. No weeping and gnashing, just melancholy longing to take time back to when the family had so much promise. Smartly, Bradley shows videos in the final shots of the family in reverse as if time could be altered but never would be.

He also makes the right decision to leave the doc in black and white in order to blend the past with the present. Unlike other documentaries about carceral injustice, Time does not demand we accept Robert as victim-it accepts his mistake and subtly suggests only that the sentence was excessive.

By showing the talented Sibil doggedly working for reform (she could have been a preacher) and her exemplary family soldiering on without dad is the best argument for careful, unbiased sentencing in a system that fails to account for incarceration's effect on everyone, the convict's family and us. Law and order sometimes forget the human factor.

"But at my back I always hear/ Time's winged chariot hurrying near." Andrew Marvel

"Time" is an attention getting doc done thru the personal diary like videos of one Fox Rich a Louisiana mom of 6 who's faced almost 20 years without her husband Rob who's still locked up for armed robbery. It preaches faith, hope, and love, at the same time you see Fox's and the kids loss and pain without no husband or dad. Plus it looks at the prison system as being cruel and unkind and the doc promotes and ask that the criminal justice system be more forgiving. Done in black and white this is a focus and feature on human life, family, love, and most of all release and happiness as it's freedom from the system.

As "Time" (2020 release; 81 min.) opens, Sybil Fox Richardson is talking directly into her smart phone camera: "Today is July 23. My husband is in jail" and she shows off her highly pregnant belly. Born in 1971, she met her husband at age 16, and they eventually start a hip hop clothing store in Shreveport, LA. Then in the late 1990s things go wrong, very wrong, and her husband is sentenced to 60 years in jail... At this point we are less than 10 min. Into the film...

Couple of comments: this is the latest from director Garrett Bradley, who has done a variety of prior short documentary and TV work before. Here she takes a closer look at the travails of a women who is is trying to get her husband released from jail (which she terms "nothing less than slavery"), while raising six boys. The film itself is presented as a mixture smart phone footage and regular camera work, but all of it being brought in B&W footage only. The film also jumps back and forth in time over the last 2 decades. In the end it brings an intimate look at one woman's battle for justice reform. "I will be the voice for the voiceless!", she thunders at one of her public lectures. The movie gets better as it plays out, among other reasons because you really buy into the social plight of this woman and her family. In addition to the remarkable photography, the movie also sports an amazing score, much of it solo piano.

The movie had a very short and limited theater run last Fall, and sadly I had missed it then. I recently caught it on Amazon Prime. In fact, i watched this the very evening of the 2021 Oscars ceremony, where it was nominated for Best Documentary Oscar. Alas, it didn't win (that Oscar went to "My Octopus Teacher"). Regardless, if you have any interest in social justice issues or simply want to see a deeply human story playing out over 2 decades, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I've never seen anything like this beautiful work of art. Thank you to the Richardson family for sharing your story. I hope this film changes lives and minds, the world is a better place with this film in it.

A 2020 documentary (currently nominated for an Oscar) airing on Amazon Prime. Focusing on the efforts of a woman, Fox Rich, through a 20 year odyssey of trying to get her husband released from jail while trying to raise her kids & being a firebrand in her church preaching about the inequities of the prison system. Shot on black & white video & possibly through only cellphone footage, the drama is front & center (& told in a fractured narrative where we jump back & forth in time) which can be enlightening & quite sobering sometimes in the expanse of the same frame. The only niggling thing are the facts which have been left from the story (the couple were running a sporting goods store in Louisiana but when business got tough, they resorted to an attempted bank robbery which entailed both of them to be arrested), especially in the age of the constant barrage of true crime coverage on the air where a complete picture of events (a bank robbery is serious business!) may clarify any questions the viewers may have.

This movie is kind of beautiful, and very sad. It tells a story that I am sure many can relate to, and it tells it well.

Robert Richardson (why the film uses a false name is uncertain) received a harsh sentence for armed robbery. The film neglects to mention that Rob Rich and his wife Sybil Fox Richardson tried to tamper with the jury by visiting two jurors, that shots were fired when the robbers were fleeing and that Rob Rich had a prior conviction in Missouri. The armed robbery, the jury tampering, the shots and the fact that Rob Richardson had a prior conviction should have been mentioned in the film. There was also another man involved who was a family member of Rob Robertson, he received 45 years. What happened to that man would be interesting to know.

It's remarkable how much director Garrett Bradley and her editors achieved with so little. Working on a micro budget and a mix of her footage and old video tapes, Bradley chose to unify it all in elegant black and white, while focusing on what truly matters: the story. And what a story it is-a deeply human tale of circumstances, choices, and consequences that stretch far beyond what most of us can imagine.

Anchored by a powerful woman at its center, Fox Rich, the film catches you and never lets go. If you care about people, you will care about this family. Time is a scathing indictment of our racist economic and penitentiary systems. We can-and must-do better.

Time is an in-depth looks at how incarceration affects a lower-class family. It doesn't try to justify or shove aside the crime; it simply humanizes a situation that is so quickly villainized. The aptly named Rich family is truly astounding; even the husband, who almost functions as a formless MacGuffin for much of the film, has a stunningly moving presence by the end. It sags in the middle, but the story is realized and stirring enough to warrant a narrative film. I vote Coogler.

I gave it a 7 but the story IS shameful. All I can say is it was probably a blessing the grandmother raised those boys in their formattable years and not this woman(cluster b narcissist). You can see it in the grandmothers face the few times they talked to her or put the camera on her face.

I do not see color. I see love, humility, tenacity and forgiveness of a grave mistake this couple made out of desperation; we as a society need to get better with our prison sentences. There has got to be a better formula.

This doc was a look into the effects prison can have on a black family. It centers around the mother, Fox raising her six kids as she fights to get her husband released from prison.

It's very heartbreaking and a good story that included home video that Fox took of her kids growing up.

Why 6/10:

They don't thoroughly explain the circumstances around the arrest of her husband and the legal battle to get him released. They explain that the husband was arrested for armed robbery, and the family was in a desperate situation, but they leave it at that. I get they wanted to focus on the family, but it felt like there were parts missing from the story.

Overall:

Decent movie showing the hardship many black families face with a single mother juggling taking care of her family and trying to get her husband released, but some unanswered questions prevent me from giving this a higher ranking.

There are plenty of documentaries that insert home video footage, but this is something fundamentally different. Rather than a bit of home video footage inside a film maker's container, this documentary feels like it emerges fully from 20 years of home recordings - you sense the passage of time, you see kindergardeners become college students, you feel the weight of 2 decades worth of hoping for parole. As a result, Bradley accomplishes far more than he could have with a collection of talking heads like 13th. You live with the Rich family, and you feel what our prison system does to them. To us. As a result, you somehow experience 21 years in a quick 80 minutes. It is moving, to say the least.

I find the documentary quite unusual, as it portrays much laughter and positivity despite the circumstances. However, I didn't quite engage with the material as it is so unusual.

Very personal and gripping documentary reflects the a tale of love and waiting with a clear perspective on the inadequacies of the American justice system.

Tried to find a court case for these characters. I did not. Instead I found an appeal case of a Robert Richardson and a nephew of his wife, both who did not attempt to rob a bank as the movie implies but actually robbed it and were caught later that day. The only mention of a Sybil Fox was during the trial when both Rob and Sybil, presented as his wife, tried to tamper with the jury by visiting their homes and coercing them. Two of them were replaced during the trial for this, and in effect they tried to create a possibility for the trial to be ruled a mistrial when the nephew argued he couldn't received a fair trial because of what the two did. Otherwise there was nothing about her being involved in any way. My thought is that she was a placeholder in the story for the nephew, either he did not agree for this part of his life to be publicized or they did not agree on the proceeds for the publications and had to be swapped for a made up character, hence her struggle in the prison system might be fabricated. I can't point it out exactly since the case eludes me but... This is, at best, an artistic adaptation of a real event than an actual documentary of said event. Something like Fargo, but that's it. It's very one sided and misleading, while hiding behind a real event to obtain credibility. On the part of the victimisation, that court document showed a lot of mistakes he did, and the whole focus was on gaming the system in failing the trial. Are the 60 years excessive? Yes! But a victim, he's not, when the had the chance to come clean. Poor life choices will lead to severe punishment and while the punishment in his case seems exaggerated it might serve as a warning about outcomes and personal responsibility in face of clear evidence. Out there there are other cases, far more damaging than his, yet less dramatised and faked. Another striking thing was the changes in names: Sibil Fox, Sybil Fox, Sibil Rich, Sybil Fox Richardson, Rob Rich, Robert Richardson. If it were supposed to be a documentary, it should contain clear identities. This leads me to suspect that they are trying to hide ways for people to arrive at the actual court case and see for themselves what is instead of being told a one-sided story about the prison system. And even regarding this in reality is not the actual issue, since that sentence, the length, the conditions, were part of the justice system (judges and jury) outcome. The issues with the prison system are different and pertain mostly to the kids in this instance. Chances have to be made, abolishing won't be one of them. Overall the mockup-umentary is hard to swallow. Works as an artistic work, but the pushed narrative as being a real event is mostly for the gullible.

Bradley's treatment of the Richardson family is "timely" and needed to give the mainstream empathy for incarceration time. The documentary follow Mrs. Sibil Richardson's (Fox Rich) determinationn to advocate the release of her husband, Robert who was doing a 60 year sentence.

The rest of the segments composed of intimate interviews with their children. It follows their mother advocating the problem of imprisonment. Its contrast of black and white imagery, capturing the tension, almost "noir" like appearance.

The interesting side of this documentary is showing the Louisiana Creole life. Even seeking "faith" outside of church support but to practice Afro-Louisiana "folkloric" traditions beyond Baptist and Catholic beliefs.

Largely a collage of home videos artfully strung together depicting the lives of convicted bank robbers Fox and Rob Richardson, their successful upbringing of six sons inspite of their mother being in jail for 12 years, and the release of Rob after 20 years in prison. Quite a story!

This documentary is missing something. To me it seems empty. Had it not been for all of the recorded footage by Fox then there would have been no substance at all. I can agree that her husband was given too much time for the crime but....The documentary itself isn't deserving of the high rating others have given it.