'JUSTICE', an uplifting political film--Have you seen it or heard of it?

[AirAmFan]

I was stunned by the boldness of political vision in a movie I saw on cable (STARZ) Tuesday night. I don't think a movie this "radical" or with more potential for grass-roots political organizing has been made for decades.

Filmed in Minneapolis and released there in May of this year, "Justice" is trying to go national. Its star is well known, but its writers/directors and most of its cast are complete newcomers to film. The movie has a website at http://www.themoviejustice.com .

Roger Guenveur Smith co-starred with James Carville on "K Street" at the height of optimism during the Democratic primaries. But Jeanne Marie Almonor, the writer and director and driving force behind the film, is just an enthusiastic amateur filmmaker. Her real job is Harvard-trained civil rights lawyer, and she made this film to help organize opposition to the "anti-crime" hysteria that, starting under Nixon, has done more than anything to help Republicans achieve complete power over this country, and to largely silence Democratic opposition.

Have you seen this movie? Had you even heard of it before my post? What do you think of it?

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Here are excerpts from a "factsheet" on the movie's website, at http://www.jujitsufilms.com/justice/factsheet.htm

'JUSTICE: QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

--44% of all young African-American males (18-30 years old) living in Hennepin County were arrested and booked in the year 2000 (Council on Crime and Justice)...

--About 20% of African-American men in Minnesota are ineligible to vote because they are incarcerated or on parole or probation for a felony conviction. (Council on Crime and Justice)...

"Relative to population, black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men. In large part because of the extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenses, blacks are incarcerated for all offenses at 8.2 times the rate of whites. One in every 20 black men over the age of 18 in the United States is in state or federal prison, compared to one in 180 white men. (Human Rights Watch, United States, Punishment and Prejudice, April 29, 2004)'

[AirAmFan]

1. .

[AirAmFan]

2. Anybody seen this movie? Anyone? Bueller?

Anybody never heard of it before, but think it sounds like a good idea?

[Radical Activist]

3. No, but I'm looking forward to seeing it

It looks good. I ran a voter registration drive in a state where it's difficult for ex-felons to get their voting rights back. It quickly became very obvious who the system is attempting to disenfranchise. We don't have jim crow but there are other ways to make sure less black people vote.

[AirAmFan]

4. Had you heard of it before seeing my post here on DU?

I was just stunned, partly because the cable guide Tuesday night was wrong. I was expecting to see ANOTHER movie, starring Michael Jai White, about a NYC cartoonist who commemorates 9/11 by creating a new superhero. When Roger Guenveur appeared instead, playing a radical Minnesota civil rights lawyer, I was flabbergasted.

Maybe STARZ just ran the wrong movie and I lucked out that one evening.

[Radical Activist]

5. No, never have.

[AirAmFan]

6. I'd never heard of it either, before Tuesday evening. But there it was

on my TV screen. I'm going to order a couple of t-shirts and posters from the website.