(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"Freedom" is one of those words that is often used to serve an ideological purpose. Even to this day, there is no point in implementing it in the United States, a country that actually has a perfectly functioning prison industry (see also Modern Times Review). Land of the Free, the first full-length documentary by the young Danish filmmaker Camilla Magid, was shown as part of the documentary competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
No right answers. Brian is one of thousands in South Central Los Angeles who has grown up in gangs, without many other choices in life. Small crime eventually led to major crimes. One day he commits a murder, a crime he can never forgive himself, and which he does not even understand. He spends the next 24 years in prison, and when he comes out, he discovers that the world has changed. The speed of traffic surprises him, as does the taste of real coffee. Brian needs help getting his own email address, as the prison system has not prepared him to live outside the walls. But he wants to succeed. Pastor Swaringer is one of these people trying to make this possible. He takes Brian into his long-awaited group of former prison birds, all of whom are looking for help and social contacts. A psychologist, Richard, teaches Brian a method of developing faith in himself and the ability to share. In addition, he opens Brian's mind to a thought of permanent, fruitful change: “There are no right answers. There are only right questions. "
"There are no right answers. There are only right questions. "
Magid spent two years with her main characters. During this time, Brian finds work, an apartment, a girlfriend and a way back to the family who had rejected him when he was young. But he still prefers not to talk about the most painful moment in his life, which constantly bothers him. It was not the person he is today that performed the wrongdoing he has been in prison for. This is how he finds out.
Meaningless violence. Magid presents two other characters from the same suburbs of Los Angeles. Things have not really changed that much for 20-year-old Juan, who has just been released after serving a sentence for drug trafficking. Although he gives Pastor Swaringer's group assurances about the best intentions and seems integrated into family life as a loving, young father with the support of his wife, he fails and ends up on the streets again as a drug dealer. Magid manages to keep in touch with him, but she finds a resigned young man for whom a normal life does not seem to be a real choice. Now that he is in his early twenties, he is too old to be admitted to high school again, and he is still deeply disoriented due to the memories of customary beatings in prison, meaningless violence he experienced both as a victim and a reluctant perpetrator.
At first glance, seven-year-old Gianni hates his mother with an incredibly painful and inexplicable strength. Helpless as she is, she can only respond with aggression and punishment. There is a real risk of the situation escalating out of control. Again, psychologist Robert offers help to break the spiral of violence. He discovers the traumatic events Gianni experienced when her mother is absent after being arrested for trying to smuggle 100 kilos of marijuana into the country. Once an explanation has been found for Gianni's hateful attack on her mother, it seems that a fresh start may be possible. Gianni's mother, who also participates in the pastor's group, is slowly being able to establish new and good ways of communicating with her son, giving him a foundation to succeed in school.
It is unusual and remarkable that a film that deals with such a difficult material has a hopeful ending. But Magid never fails to inform the viewer of how fragile hope can be in places where prisons only serve as life-long barriers, without providing tools for integration and development for inmates. Magid emphasizes the role of extraordinary individuals who offer help with real expertise, knowledge and future faith. But it's clear that Brian will suffer all his life, Gianni will continue to be fearfully withdrawn in her own neighborhood, and Juan will likely spend her entire life in prison.
Talent. Camilla Magid confirms her talent for revealing the fragile existence of her protagonists, which she already showed in her portrait of two Syrian women in a rapidly changing Arab world in the short documentary The Black Lines (2006). This ability became even more evident in White Black Boy (2012), in which she follows a Tanzanian albino boy who is confronted with superstitions and threats in a society where people with pigment defects are given magical powers.
"Well-known facts" are often a simplifying illusion that is lost in the face of reality.
Magid does not hide the fact that she radically changed the concept and primary focus during the process of Land of the Free. Instead of sticking to preconceived ideas, she chose to rely on her own observations and encounters with people along the way. Filmmakers who want to make real discoveries, of course, do not trust a script written before the filming process begins. Such can only represent facts already known. However, "well-known facts" are often a simplifying illusion that is lost in the face of reality.
