It’s Criminal: A Tale of Prison and Privilege

Convicts and college students come together in filmmaker Signe Taylor’s moving documentary. The students in Dartmouth College’s "Prison and Performance" program know that their collaboration with the inmates of the Sullivan County Department of Corrections won’t compare with other Women and Gender Studies classes, but Professor Ivy Schweitzer promises they’ll get more out of it. Co-coordinator Pati Hernández, who grew up in Chile, believes that "putting privileged and underprivileged together, and the willingness to collaborate together—that’s the beauty." On the first day, the two groups introduce themselves and toss around writing ideas. From the outside, it looks fairly harmonious, although Malika, an inmate with two kids, admits that she initially hated Georgia, a sophomore who appears to live a charmed life. Georgia is beautiful, blonde, lives in the suburbs, and votes Republican. Malika, the daughter of a civil rights activist, is serving a year for possession with intent to sell (she regrets that she had to plead guilty because she couldn’t afford to go to trial). Nikki hasn’t even received a sentence, but can’t afford bail, so she has to remain behind bars until her day in court. As the rehearsals continue, frictions ebb and flow, but the women do learn from each other—especially about privilege, since the students have so much of it—and the film culminates in a fine theatrical performance. Seven years in the making, It’s Criminal honors all participants while also strongly suggesting that society could benefit from more of this kind of rehabilitative program. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)