Two terrific documentaries to add to your list…
Kids for Cash: This doc exposes a “tough on crime” judge for what he really is: perhaps a fraud, and definitely a destroyer of kid’s lives. At the same time he gained a reputation for being notoriously hard on juvenile offenders—sentencing them to juvenile detention centers and maximum sentences even if they had no priors and even the prosecutor recommended probation instead—he was financially linked to the company building the juvenile detention centers. An eye-opening documentary that is really about the under-reported story of how America’s insane incarceration rates (and its obvious link to privatized prison corporations) have now trickled down into the way children are treated for “crimes” that would have never even gone before a judge twenty years ago. It’s a thoughtful examination of how post-Columbine hysteria may be the domestic equivalent of the “War on Terror.” Grade: A-
The Green Prince: This is as deep a character study as any fictional film from 2014, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if this was remade as a docudrama starring big name actors who would relish the chance to play these roles. It’s essentially about how the son of a major Hamas leader became an informant for Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service (this is the domestic equivalent of the Mossad spy agency), but it’s really about these two very different men who struck up the most unlikely of bonds and how a dyed-in-the-wool Israel hater had his eyes opened by a terrifying stint in prison (Hamas-owned Palestinian guards run the Palestinian inmate part of the prison, and people were literally killed in front of him) and a compassionate Israeli agent. Some of the Israeli agent’s co-workers called him a Palestinian lover, and the informant’s family raised him to believe Israel is the devil, so it’s interesting that the duo’s loyalty to each other eventually becomes stronger than either’s “side” would like. This is as suspenseful and rich as any classic spy novel. Grade: A