Time
— “Time” was shown at the 2020 True/False Film Fest and, for T/F festival films, I’m giving a general reaction to the viewing experience, followed by the film’s description as it appeared on the festival website.
The film does what you might expect—touches on the inequity of prison sentences, but also defines time lost from a prison sentence not just in terms of what the prisoner loses, but also as the times lost by family and friends continuing their lives without the inmate as part of them. What set the film apart for me was seeing “Fox” Rich’s spirit as she raises her family, continually advocating for her imprisoned husband, keeping her love for him front and center and somehow conveying the importance of her husband’s love to her children. I haven’t seen many films where black families are portrayed as having tender, loving, and intimate family moments and I didn’t even realize it until I saw this film and the soft edges of relationships and moments in Rob and “Fox” Rich’s family life. That sense of love and strength maintained across the years is beautiful.
Description from the T/F website: “A single moment in time can propel your life into new, unexpected directions. A single decision, a single chance, or a single mistake. We talk about time like we talk about movement, tumbling forwards, pregnant with possibility. In prison, the world races on without you, with your family and loved ones straddling parallel dimensions of space and time. Sibil “Fox” Rich’s family is split in two as her husband Rob serves the mandatory minimum sentence for a first-time offense committed in his 20s, and their sons grow into men. Garrett Bradley’s Time is a gorgeous decades-long portrait of Fox Rich—a tireless advocate, entrepreneur, and prison abolitionist—and a testament to the monumental strength of all women who love and support someone behind bars. Eighteen years of home miniDV tapes capture each year’s birthdays and milestones as Fox records video love letters to melt the iron bars of Louisiana's Angola prison and keep her family together.”
The film does what you might expect—touches on the inequity of prison sentences, but also defines time lost from a prison sentence not just in terms of what the prisoner loses, but also as the times lost by family and friends continuing their lives without the inmate as part of them. What set the film apart for me was seeing “Fox” Rich’s spirit as she raises her family, continually advocating for her imprisoned husband, keeping her love for him front and center and somehow conveying the importance of her husband’s love to her children. I haven’t seen many films where black families are portrayed as having tender, loving, and intimate family moments and I didn’t even realize it until I saw this film and the soft edges of relationships and moments in Rob and “Fox” Rich’s family life. That sense of love and strength maintained across the years is beautiful.
Description from the T/F website: “A single moment in time can propel your life into new, unexpected directions. A single decision, a single chance, or a single mistake. We talk about time like we talk about movement, tumbling forwards, pregnant with possibility. In prison, the world races on without you, with your family and loved ones straddling parallel dimensions of space and time. Sibil “Fox” Rich’s family is split in two as her husband Rob serves the mandatory minimum sentence for a first-time offense committed in his 20s, and their sons grow into men. Garrett Bradley’s Time is a gorgeous decades-long portrait of Fox Rich—a tireless advocate, entrepreneur, and prison abolitionist—and a testament to the monumental strength of all women who love and support someone behind bars. Eighteen years of home miniDV tapes capture each year’s birthdays and milestones as Fox records video love letters to melt the iron bars of Louisiana's Angola prison and keep her family together.”
[2020. 85 min. Directed by Garrett Bradley.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/time-review-documentary-garrett-bradley-1202208104/
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