*** Crips and Bloods: Made in America
The opening claim in the film is startling: the long-running feud between the Crips and Bloods has claimed five times as many lives as the sectarian conflict in northern Ireland. It may seem absurd to think that gang violence could be on par with civil war, but when one considers the history of unrest and turmoil that's devastated the lives and communities of African-Americans in South L.A., the comparison doesn't appear as far fetched as it seems. Over the course of forty years, almost 19,000 lives were lost because of gang-related rivalry and violence.
Narrated by Forrest Whittaker, Crips and Bloods: Made in America examines the sociological and historical roots of gang violence in South L.A. The film traces back to the period after the Civil War when African-Americans began migrating from the South to urban, industrialized areas like Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles. Their supposed freedom from oppression wound up being short-lived; in the cities, too, blacks were discriminated from equal opportunities and were subject to racial segregation. Sustained periods of tension and hostility in these cities, particularly in L.A., boiled over into some of the most historically notorious riots and simultaneously sparked gang culture among young black men. Begotten from racial bigotry and hatred ("made in America"), gangs gave blacks an outlet for their frustration and anger and instilled in them a sense of empowerment they felt was lacking in the non-violent civil rights movement. "Everyday [we're] being fed with a spoonful of hatred," Kumasi, a founding gang member, reminisces. "It's just a question of when is this going to erupt."
Some of the highlights of this documentary come from interviews with former and current gang members. Their sharp and introspective commentaries offer harrowing accounts of gang life and create a vivid picture of survival in an urban jungle. One of the more heartrending scenes in the film shows mothers silently grieving over their deceased sons, most of whom didn't live past the age of 20. The devastating ramifications of having entire generations of black males either incarcerated or dying at an early age is conveyed powerfully through the testimonies of victims who have lost either a friend, brother, father or son to gang violence.
At times, however, Crips and Bloods is too sprawling and loses focus on its subject matter (the rise of the Crips isn't brought up until thirty minutes into the film). Clocking in at just barely an hour and a half, the film tries to cover too much ground in too little time. It would've been preferable to hear from some of the more fascinating interviewees, among them a former gang member who left his crew for the sake of raising his children. Despite its shortcomings though, the documentary is visually rich and stirring and a good introduction to gang history and culture.
(One final note: the opening shot of the film is, for lack of a better word, awesome. An upside-down skyline of downtown Los Angeles, seemingly suspended in the air. The camera slowly pans up, hovers through South Central and then settles on a long shot of a hazy horizon. It's dizzying, disorienting and awesome. Definitely a submission into any Best Opening Shot category).
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