Directed by: Joshua Rofé
As
the documentary Lost for Life was being filmed, the Supreme Court of America
was considering whether or not mandatory life with parole sentences for
teenagers convicted of murder constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Lost
for Life positions itself as a neutral movie – providing the story of the
several men, now in their 20s, who have been sentenced as such for crimes
committed when they were 15, 16 or 17 – as well as the family of some of the
victims of such crimes. But it isn’t really a neutral documentary at all – it spends
far more time with the convicted killers than it does with the victim’s family,
and I cannot help but wonder if they didn’t handpick the ones they wanted to
help make their point clearly. Lost for Life quite clearly believes that these
young men deserve at least a chance at freedom again at some point in their
life – that one act shouldn’t condemn them to life, and that because they are
so young, they may well be rehabilitated in prison – something that life
without parole makes moot. But just because the movie is more biased than it
pretends to be, doesn’t mean the documentary is meaningless. And even if they
have handpicked the young men to show in the documentary to better make their
point, it still does make their point effectively – after all, if there are a few
people who may deserve a second chance outside of prison, perhaps there are
many more among the thousands of teenagers who have been sentenced to life
without parole.
Lost
for Life doesn’t shrink away from the crimes committed by the young men they
portray. They have them tell the camera what they did in as much detail as they
can remember – and most of them remember a great deal. In the one case where
the memory of the convicted killer fails – he says it’s blurry in his memory –
the movie uses video and audio evidence to fill in the gaps. In that case, two
young men were convicted of the crime – the one whose memory is hazy at least
is trying to take full responsibility for his actions – and doesn’t try to
downplay his involvement. The other teenager is exactly the opposite – even five
years later he places all the blame on his co-defendant, and his family
protests his innocence, even though we hear some pretty clear evidence that he
was more involved than he wants to admit – perhaps even to himself.
Another
young man has been convicted of murdering his mother and step father – and even
if he suffered for years under these two, who abused him physically, sexually
and emotionally, he is still in jail for life. He is much more matter of fact
about his crime – at times, it’s actually a little creepy, and I am not as
convinced as the movie appears to be about his new, more positive outlook on
life.
Lost
for Life is not a great documentary. It actually plays very much like a CNN
special report that you see on the network late at night when you can’t sleep.
However, I always liked those CNN special reports – so for the most part, I
found Lost for Life fascinating. As a movie, it plays it safe – but it’s
effective. The movie is short at 75 minutes – but that is about the length the
movie needs to be. The movie is decent for what it is – nothing more, nothing
less.
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