Crips and Bloods: Made in America

 

Story:

Through archival footage and first-person accounts from members of both factions, filmmaker Stacy Peralta's riveting documentary examines the culture of the infamous Los Angeles street gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods. Probing the deadly rivalry's genesis, Peralta explores the late 1960s conditions that have given rise to decades of bloodshed and heartache for generations of black Angelenos (NetFlix).

Review:

Stacy Peralta is known for his films about skateboarding and surfing and he certainly has carved a successful (both commercially and popularly) niche in this extreme sports genre, but when he opted to develop an investigation into the notorious gang rings of the Crips and Bloods, his talent was looked on with skepticism.  But Peralta prevailed and the result is a documentary in Crips and Bloods: Made in America, that should be recognized and admired. In many ways, Peralta is like Alex Gibney: able to perfectly blend creativity and ‘special effects’ (if you can call anything in a documentary special effects) with professionalism, and balancing entertainment with a serious topic.  Crips and Bloods is a perfect model of this.  This is one entertaining film that will keep you hooked and enthralled from opening to closing credits, but at the same time, Peralta addresses a serious subject (in gang violence) that shows a level of maturity most fail to grasp.    

It helps that Lawrence Fishbourne narrates Crips and Bloods.  His stern demeanor helps temper the rap music and quick cuts sprinkled throughout.  Fishbourne’s voice commands respect and attention even as the thrill of ‘thug life’ runs deep within this documentary.  But that is the balance Peralta aims to capture.  He wants you to feel what these community members deal with gang violence.  There is, after all, a real draw of acceptance, power and coolness that even staunch protesters can’t seem to avoid.    

And Peralta doesn’t attack the gangs, nor does he let them off the hook.  Instead, he takes a step back and asks ‘why.’  Not just why do these gangs hate each other, but why the gangs were even needed, why major riots center in this city, why despite a unified expression of exasperation there is still unending drug trafficking and violence.    

To that end, some may find Peralta’s dedication to unraveling history a bit overdone (he spends nearly a third of the film avoiding any mention of either gang).  But the history lesson is vital to our understanding the conflict.  Yes, there are some who will think it defers too much of the blame to government leaders, but there is also enough blame placed on the community and the gang members themselves to remind viewers that they are not solely victims.    

The one down side to Crips and Bloods is how little is mentioned of the rival gang’s hatred of each other.  Perhaps Peralta couldn’t find a specific or coherent argument from either side, perhaps one doesn’t even exist, but it’s hard to handle a gang feud without at least attempting to explore the actual rivalry to some length for viewers.  Admittedly, there are many who would argue this limited investigation proves that such gang violence has become absurdist’s reality where no one knows why they do what they do, they just carry on as they always have.    

Whatever your opinion, it’s clear to see that even in spite of these mistakes, Peralta has developed another gem of a documentary and proved that a film can be both cool and enlightening.   

Clearly Crips and Bloods extended Peralta as a filmmaker and as a person (you can hear it in his exasperated questions to gang members), and such development is worthy of praise.  Is it his best documentary?  No, but it’s certainly a critical work to our society today.

Reviewed by Matthew Abshire for Documentary Film Online on May 12, 2009

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