Colors Straight Up

Even though it's already seven years old, the Oscar-nominated documentary Colors Straight Up hasn't lost any of its powerful emotional impact or potential to inspire. Filmmaker Michele Ohayon gained access to the inner-city students of the Watts projects, in South Central Los Angeles, who are engaged in an extraordinary performing arts education project called Colors United, which encourages black and Latino students--many of them gang members--to set aside their differences and work towards mutual trust, self-dignity, and pride by collaborating on a variety of arts-related activities, including a musical stage production of "Watts Side Story" (an adaptation of the classic West Side Story) that addresses specific issues related to South Central's violence-ridden neighborhoods. As the film charts the progress of this energetic show through rehearsals, familial hardships, and tension between the students, the positive impact of Colors United ultimately becomes breathtakingly obvious. Highlighting healthy alternatives to the cycle of drugs and violence plaguing Watts and other projects across the nation, Colors Straight Up--filmed over two years--introduces a broad range of individuals who have discovered the promise of a better life from participating in the program. Granted, not all students (and their parents) are able to break free from lives of misery, but the film serves up evidence that programs like Colors United, when properly nurtured and supported, can be almost miraculously beneficial to those involved. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Shannon)