by Finnlay Dall
Worth: $20.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San Jose, Paul Raci
Intro:
… profoundly moving performances from real people who never thought they’d be out in the world, much less, on the world-stage.
The Rehabilitation Through the Arts [RTA] program started life at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1996. Providing a creative and therapeutic outlet for inmates, the program has had a number of success stories. According to the organisation’s own data, only three percent of their participants re-offend. Clarence Maclin is just one of those people touched by the program.
Inspired by his story, and that of his lifelong friend, mentor and fellow inmate John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield, the titular Sing Sing renders a community of prisoners who find hope in the stage and each other when the system has all but given up on them.
Wrongfully accused of second-degree murder, Divine G (Colman Domingo) is forced to spend a lifetime at Sing Sing. But the maximum-security prison has done little to dampen his spirits. Under the tutelage of Brent Buell (Paul Raci), he has been moulded into a class A dramaturg. Well spoken, encouraging and enthusiastic, he is well liked by the rest of the troupe – acting as their unofficial director. So, when he is tasked with finding a new member for their upcoming production, he heads to the yard with his cell neighbour, Mike Mike (Sean San Jose), to recruit interested players.
One of these people is Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin (playing himself). Caught by Mike and Divine G in the middle of a drug deal, he tries to play it cool. Touchy, stiff shouldered and rough as guts, Divine Eye’s interest in the program seems questionable. But when relaying a moment of King Lear, he speaks as if possessed by Shakespeare himself. Sensing the spark of a thespian within him, Divine G agrees to let Eye join the team. Yet, with Divine Eye’s reluctance to partake in warm-up exercises and his refusal to do anything serious, his time in the group seems short-lived.
Winning over the rest of the cast with an improvised comedy – a mish mash of history, pop-culture references, and a butchered Hamlet – Eye takes control of the production. Forced to reconcile with the new recruit, Divine G will instead have to listen to Eye and open up to him if he hopes to keep the young buck in-line.
Prisoners always have play in their hearts; to play tough or submissive, to act the fool when drugs are passed around the yard and to stay silent when your fellow man is stabbed in front of you. Director Greg Kwedar ties everything in the film to this same twisted sense of performativity. When a siren goes off in the yard, Divine G and the other inmates play dead; Divine Eye gets into a fight with one of the other players after they walk behind him, hackles up and ready to fight; all the inmates have been instinctually taught to act as animals, to put on a brave front. The RTA then, as Sean ‘Dino’ Johnson says to the other cast members, is a place for them “to become human again.” A way to use their acting skills for the good of themselves and others.
Authenticity is often a selling point of projects with less to say. While Margaret Atwood’s 2016 novel Hagseed is dense with research on the Canadian prison system, the stunted prison-speak – and questionable names of native Red Coyote and hacker 8Handz – could only be dreamed up by a white woman in her then mid-70s.
Last year, Ghostlight’s dysfunctional family was played by a real one of thespians, but its writing had levels of convenience and melodrama that would make even Shakespeare blush.
Sing Sing happily finds a perfect balance. Besides Domingo (whose real-life counterpart cameos as a fan of Divine G’s work) and San Jose, the rest of the RTA players reprise their real-life roles as inmates. Combined with arresting visuals by Patrick Scola, the audience is swept up in profoundly moving performances from real people who never thought they’d be out in the world, much less, on the world-stage.
None more so than Clarence Maclin, who not only holds his own against Domingo, but transcends him to become a worthy actor in his own right, producing a surprisingly nuanced performance.
While Divine G and Eye’s relationship is a thorny one, it’s only when their belief in each other overcomes the crushing reality of the system, that a wonderful friendship blossoms. The sense of community and lifelong companionship at the end of Sing Sing is enthralling and indicative of art’s ability to empower and rehabilitate those left behind. And with the blessing of the RTA and its direct involvement with Whitfield and Maclin, the film is a testament to those still fighting on the inside.
