Slippin': Ten Years with the Bloods

Originally airing on Showtime, Slippin' was filmed between 1993-2003 on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, where filmmakers Tommy Sowards and Joachim Schroeder were given unprecedented access to the notorious Bloods street gang and their subculture of violence and drug abuse. To its credit, the film effectively denudes whatever glamour might be wrapped around the so-called gangsta appeal, as Sowards and Schroeder showcase a decade's worth of lives ruined by acute self-destructive behavior resulting in death, incarceration, and drug-related illnesses, not to mention the emotional wreckage piled upon families and friends unable to stop the lunacy (especially unfathomable is the Bloods' long-running feud with the Crips gang). A grimly depressing portrait of intelligent young people who freely choose to throw away their lives (at the end of this 10-year odyssey, Sowards and Schroeder are literally right back where they started—the names and faces might be different, but it's the same old story), Slippin's rough language and situations are clearly unsuitable for younger viewers, but for impressionable teens who naively associate the gangsta lifestyle with quick riches and endless pleasure, the film offers a necessary jolt to the senses. DVD extras include a 28-minute short made by the Bloods themselves, which only suggests that filmmaking should be left to the professionals. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)