Crips and Bloods: Made in America – Doku von Stacey Peralta

Skate Legende Stacey Peralta starte, nach seinem Weggang von Powell & Peralta, eine neue Karriere als Regisseur und Produzent. Er ist unter anderem verantwortlich für den fantastischen Skatefilm “Dogtown & Z-Boys”, den Surffilm “Riding Giants” und schrieb das Drehbuch für den Hollywood Film “Lords of Dogtown” (u.a. mit Heath Ledger).

Sein neuster Film, beschäftigt sich mit den Bandenkriegen der beiden wohl bekanntesten Gangs in Los Angeles, den Crips und Bloods. (via)

From the genesis of LA’s gang culture to the shocking, war-zone reality of daily life in the South L.A., the film chronicles the rise of the Crips and Bloods, tracing the origins of their bloody four-decades long feud. Contemporary and former gang members offer their street-level testimony that provides the film with a stark portrait of modern-day gang life: the turf wars and territorialism, the inter-gang hierarchy and family structure, the rules of behavior, the culture of guns, death and dishonor.

Throughout the film ex-gang members, gang intervention experts, writers, activists and academics analyze many of the issues that contribute to South LA’s malaise: the erosion of identity that fuels the self-perpetuating legacy of black self-hatred, the disappearance of the African-American father and an almost pervasive prison culture in which today one out of every four black men will be imprisoned at some point in his life.

Finally the gang members themselves articulate their enduring dream of a better life. They provide CRIPS AND BLOODS: MADE IN AMERICA with its ultimate statement: a message of hope and a cautionary tale of redemption aimed at saving the lives of a new generation of kids, not just in South LA but anywhere in the world that gang violence exists.