Hot Docs 2024: The Strike Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

In 1989, the state of California opened the Pelican Bay State Prison. Classified as a maximum security prison, it hosted the most dangerous inmates in the state and the country. However, the institution is primarily known for its SHU (Security Housing Unit), a solitary space designed to host potentially dangerous prisoners. Centered around the SHU and the concept of solitary confinement, The Strike shows how problematic the hosting of prisoners was. Officers would define who would be assigned to the solitaries and how much time they would spend there. The result was inmates who spent more than 30 years in SHU. 

Besides the traditional talking-heads structure, the film’s strength came from interviews with those suffered as a result of their confinement. The rawness of these stories and the emotion of their accounts are very powerful. While the film starts with so much potential, that potential began to dwindle a bit come its second half. On the other hand, its set-up of the Pelican Bay organizational structure, and its sociological and political contexts, adds considerable depth to the story. That being said, one of the film’s biggest issues is its dependence on the emotional impact of its interviews. Where it also struggles is once it unfolds and organizes the facts, which could be seen in the editing process. Though it repeats itself, using the prison being as an analog for the country and circling back to it a few times, it is crucial to state how Pelican Bay’s SHU shaped other prisons in the U.S. However, operating within such a condensed narrative and a short running time does not help its cause. 

It is its analysis of the journalistic and political progress of the story, using exciting interviews to meaningfully contribute to the film’s overall theme. Meanwhile, it does an excellent job of explaining the American justice system through the bureaucratic structure of prisons by highlighting the racist judiciary of the 1980s and 1990s, featuring archival footage of inmates’ hunger strikes which proved to be a successful bargaining tactic. Treading that political debate, the film works pretty well. Telling an important story of how 29,000 California inmates and their battle against solitary confinement, The Strike was ultimately at its best whenever it analyzes society and America’s hypocritical judiciary system. It problems lied with its repetitive structure and its focus on aspects that had no impact the narrative. Those issues aside, it is an impactful film about human rights and the power of solidarity. 

still courtesy of Hot Docs

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Pedro Lima

Brazilian film writer. He is also a producer and executive producer for Zariah Filmes. Member of the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA), International Documentary Association (IDA), and Gotham and Media Film Institute.