I thought this movie did a good job at providing certain statistics and facts I was unaware of, but I had a few problems with the film. In the beginning of the film, I thought it was going to be a whole movie about black men who are incarcerated and that annoyed me because it didn’t give any indication that women or white people would also be looked at later in the film. If I were watching this film on my own, I probably would’ve turned it off because the beginning made it seem like that the movie was going to be a film that supports the theory that certain races, genders, and classes of people commit these crimes. I think multiple people would feel the same way, so I think in the beginning the director should’ve given an indication that not only lower-income, black men would be looked at because it immediately turned me off from wanting to watch the rest of the film.
I can see how that could have came across to you, however on my side I didn’t immediately think that because of the juxtaposition with the presidential speeches against men being imprisoned. This conveyed to me that the problem was inherent in the government and not the people. However, I don’t know if this was an assessment shared by anyone else or what the director was even trying to get across.
Also, I think in the beginning of a documentary it’s important to remain general because it will appeal to a more general audience before putting the argument out there. For instance, someone who might hold the beliefs that black men are actually committing more crimes would not immediately turn it off because the surface quality seems to adhere to their beliefs. I think in this way the audience who doesn’t already see the racism in these drugs laws and poverty-ridden areas might continue watching the documentary and gain some new perspective.