Broken On All Sides Film Analysis

1270 Words6 Pages
In On The Run, black men in a low income community in Philadelphia hardships and daily struggles are described, and as they constantly have negative run in’s with the law, the author Alice Goffman is able to see the larger force working at hand. To keep men like those on 6th street in a state of fear, not in control of their lives mass imprisonment is used a violent tool that targets the Black community and poor people for its inmate population. By calling out tough on crime policies and making stories of Blacks who are suffering because of it public, Goffman carries on a mission to raise awareness about mass incarceration. Broken On All Sides, a documentary produced by Matt Pillischer, focused on mass incarceration and how it disproportionately targets men of…show more content…
Like Goffman, by the end of Pillischer’s documentary, his mission becomes clear as well. Pillischer’s agenda of Broken on all sides is to call out the unjust system for what it is today, particularly describing how unfair treatment within Philadelphia county jails play into this narrative and by telling those watching to do something about it in their states. Viewers of the film are made aware that contributing in the smallest way within various organizations, helps those disadvantaged and negatively affected by bias policies. Within Philadelphia, the aspect of overcrowding in county jails is acknowledged, and it is revealed that it then became about outsourcing prisoners, not about decreasing the prison population. Michelle Alexander, a famous author who wrote The New Jim Crow, a descriptive book on mass incarceration, offers eye opening commentary within the documentary. Alexander mentions how society has not been blind to race issues themselves, but towards the racial caste system that exists and creates second class citizens with limited amounts of legal rights. Those released from prison labeled a felon, who already had a difficult time in society with obtaining and

More about Broken On All Sides Film Analysis

Open Document