As the warm weather lurks into the city, as it does always in Chicago during this time of the year, we are all aware of what that entails. Unfortunately, a vast consequence of summer months in Chicago is death. During the summer, murders across the city pile up, as gang violence in Chicago has become a national epidemic.
From acclaimed director Steve James and bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, this film is an unusually intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities. Shot over the course of a year out of Kartemquin Films, The Interrupters captures a period in Chicago when it became a national symbol for the violence in our cities. During that period, the city was besieged by high-profile incidents, most notably the brutal beating of Derrion Albert, a Chicago High School student, whose death was caught on videotape.
The film’s main subjects work for an innovative organization, CeaseFire, which believes that the spread of violence mimics the spread of infectious diseases, and so the treatment should be similar: go after the most infected, and stop the infection at its source. The singular mission of the “Violence Interrupters” — who have credibility on the streets because of their own personal histories — is to intervene in conflicts before they explode into violence.
This looks like a very promising documentary, and is definitely something that effects lot’s of us living in the city, as well as many in the Chicago Hip-Hop community. Artists like Rhymefest, Lupe Fiasco & Common have all come out against this phenomenon plaguing our city, but we still have much work to do as a local community ourselves. Hit the jump for the trailer.
The Hideout is holding a screening of the film this Friday (6/3). Click Here for more info.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXmm0MZLGxY