This 2017 documentary focuses on three juvenile detention ranches employing something called the "Missouri Method," an approach to dealing with incarcerated teens using group therapy, the building of bonds, role-playing and various support systems in place of strict, dehumanizing, prison-like discipline. One of the ranches is just outside San Jose, another is close to New Orleans, and the third is in a New York City borough. Filmmaker Victoria Mills cuts between the three to demonstrate parallels in employing the Missouri Method, and she does not attempt to hype its effectiveness by cherry-picking examples of troubled kids playing chess with staff and talking about their problems. Much time is spent following the case of an 18-year-old named Mazano, a repeat, domestic violence offender and a gang member whose entire emotional identity is tied up in that affiliation.
While staff members talk and talk and talk to him about getting control over his anger and taking responsibility for his actions, you can see the volcanic rage in him arise; nothing is going to make this kid evolve short of a sea change that does not seem in the cards. The same is true of other kids (there are separate programs for boys and girls) whose youthful faces belie some pretty heinous impulses and a lack of conscience. Still, it is warming to see an atmosphere in which offenders, while subject to logical consequences for infractions, aren't made worse through terrible punishments. Staff members, too, are good people to meet in this film, eternally dedicated to the young people with whom they are trying to build bridges. Just Like Other Kids ends, metaphorically speaking, with the jury still out on the Missouri Method as a silver bullet, but it sure beats the alternative. Strongly recommended. Aud: I, J, H, C, P.