- Directors
- Joshua Altman, Bing Liu
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 88 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
It’s hard to watch a documentary about struggle and survival without feeling like not being up to the task of writing about it. The synopsis for All These Sons doesn’t give much away other than foreshadowing that awful things are about to happen. But there are a few positive things that people living in the “bad” neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West sides are doing about their situation. These men give the younger generation hope that their situation can change.
From the team that brought 2018’s Minding The Gap, All These Sons aims to deliver an insider’s perspective on the volatility, violence and crime that threatens the lives of these young men face daily. And it focuses on two men who have experienced life in the worst neighborhoods in Chicago and have lived to talk about it and heal while trying to save others from a similar life experience. The film captures both sides of the struggle from the perspective of the young men caught in the midst of all the gun violence and gang banging and their older peers who are fighting to save whomever they can. It literally is a fight, an uphill battle to try and avoid another young man becoming just another statistic.
In this film, the two main organizations featured are the I.M.A.N and the MAAFA Redemption Project, both faith-based charities that focus on helping men “at-risk” of falling victim to the criminal elements in Chicago. Statistically, Chicago is worse than both Los Angeles and New York for crime-related deaths in 2020. The film works incredibly well as a documentary to educate and raise awareness about the plight of young men of color in Chicago and why so many are at risk. Nevertheless, some are learning to rise above it one step at a time. Yet, there is an authenticity to the content covered that is impossible to ignore.
In the end, All These Sons will surely raise eyebrows and give audiences valuable insights about the rising crime rates in Chicago and an understanding of the real-life struggles these young men face. It is a poignant and interesting film and one that will be hard to forget any time soon.
still courtesy of Tribeca
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