Even heroes have the right to bleed.
I may be disturbed, but won't you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream.
It's not easy to be me."
Those lyrics are from a song called "Superman" by Five For Fighting, and it's personally one of my favorite songs. That song popped in my head as I was watching The Interrupters, the most recent documentary from acclaimed documentarian Steve James, who made the brilliant 1994 film Hoop Dreams. Hoop Dreams followed two young basketball players through their high school and college careers as they both dreamed of making it to the NBA one day and showed just how fragile those dreams can be. To this day, it remains the best documentary I have ever seen, and James latest effort is not far behind.
The Interrupters follows three individuals who work for an organization called CeaseFire, a Chicago-based anti-violence program which sends workers, Interrupters, to areas where gang violence is simmering to try and stop conflicts before they arise. Ameena Matthews, Eddie Bocanegra and Cobe Williams are all former criminals who dealt drugs, committed crimes and even were involved in deaths of other individuals. They have turned their lives around and now work as Interrupters trying to quell the very violence they once engaged in. They are ideal to work the streets because they know what it is like to live in the shoes of these offenders. They are often placed in very dangerous situations and could get caught up in altercations easily, but they do their job anyway hoping to save lives one person at a time. It takes a special kind of person to do a job like this and they have the patience of saints. It's a job I know that I could not do and I doubt many others could either. These individuals are true "heroes" and if this film serves no other purpose, it makes people aware that there are folks out there who truly care about problems on the streets. We follow them over the course of a year during one of the most violent times in Chicago's history. It's safe to say, you will respect this organization when you are finished.
I really enjoyed this film but I do knock it a bit for being just a tad too long. It clocks in at a touch over 2 hours and I think it could have benefited with about a 15 minute cut. There's a lot of great scenes but there are a few moments where it drags, but don't let that dissuade you from giving it a shot. Also, being that this movie is a documentary, and very real, the language can be pretty harsh which will turn some people off. Unfortunately, this is a realistic slice of this life so that's to be expected. If you can look past these complaints, I think you will find a film here that will have you thinking long after the credits have rolled. I know documentaries don't tend to make for great Saturday evening entertainment but there are lots of great ones out there, and this is one of the better ones.
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