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joconnor09
Reviews
Gang Tapes (2001)
An excellent film, definitely worth watching
This film is one of the best hood films I've seen so far. More than any other movie I've seen, this truly captures the tragedy, fear, and challenge of growing up in the ghetto. I should note that I'm not from a poor neighborhood, so I can't accurately attest to the actual reality of the film; however, based on other films I've seen, this is truly a masterpiece.
I went into this film not quite sure if it was a documentary or not- I didn't read the information on it too closely. As I got farther into it, I became even less sure one way or the other. I kept hoping it was fake, but thinking it could be real. It's gritty, horrifying, and uncompromising in its look at life in the Watts neighborhood. When the home invasion scene came up, and I saw that woman being raped and that little girl almost being killed, I felt like I had witnessed something I wasn't supposed to see. Like I was complicit in the crime.
I could see the agony and anger in the actors' faces and it almost never seemed like they were acting. Since most of the actors in the film are ex-gang members, I guess they pulled those emotions out from somewhere deep inside themselves to give some of the most convincing and exquisitely acted performances I've seen in these types of movies- not perfect acting as far as technique goes, but perfect in the sense that I never felt like I was watching something scripted.
I felt like I was with them, a part of their lives. I was angry when they committed needless crimes. I was sad when they lost their friends. I was shocked when Kris was shot. I felt like I was a part of it. When Kris began keeping secrets from his mother about who he was becoming, I felt guilty with him.
There were only three times in the whole film where I felt like I was watching something scripted. In the beginning, with the white family, it felt a little forced and awkward (but what family isn't?). The other two times were when we took a brief break from the violence. One character was talking about the fact that no one ever told him he could be whatever he wanted, that all he was ever told about was the hood, and later in the hospital he told Kris that Kris had a choice in life about who he wanted to be. Those parts felt like a lesson or moral was being sneaked in and felt a little scripted. It was also a little weird when one character was saying that there were rules and regulations in gang life, and he was explaining the gang situation. That didn't quite seem genuine. Other than those brief moments, nothing felt fake.
I see the triumph of this movie as being the fact that I thought it was real, and that I hoped it wasn't. I didn't want it to be real, because then I would feel complicit in more crime than I could ever imagine in my life, let alone the span of less than one year.
This film should be more widely known, should be more popular. This brings a level of reality to street crime and gang culture that other movies, that the news, that nothing else can achieve. This doesn't glorify or romanticize violence. It makes you feel guilty and frightened and you just want it to stop. Other movies make it seem cool to kill people or rape women or steal, but this movie shows that none of that really feels OK. That none of it really is OK. It's messy and sad and scary and even the experienced gangsters haven't gotten quite used to it. They'll never be used to it, and they shouldn't be. This makes murder look real. This makes the horror of rape look real. The terror, the shock, the anger that results from all of it. After the rape scene, even the other gang members were angry, they were upset and horrified at the unconscionable act that had just been committed (even though they had all almost killed a child for some money).
Overall, SEE THIS MOVIE. You might regret it, but only because you will feel like you've been through something, seen things you would rather not have witnessed. This movie will stay with you, and make you think like other movies haven't.