FIRST TIME FELON
US, 1997, 105 minutes, Colour.
Omar Epps, Delroy Lindo, Rachel Ticotin, Justin Pierce, William Forsyth.
Directed by Charles S. Dutton.
First Time Felon is based on fact, so a film with a cause: the possibility of rehabilitation of African American members of street gangs, not by prison terms, but by going to boot camp training, where they are disciplined and where they could begin to have some self-esteem. The statistic given is that many of those who graduate from the boot camp go back on the streets and get involved in crime again.
The film was directed by actor Charles S. Dutton and its screenplay is a moral tale, a warning for the African Americans. However, it is also an exhortation. The central character played by Omar Epps is a drug hustler in the city. He goes to boot camp, is resentful, is often bawled out by the seemingly obsessive officer, played with intensity by Delroy Lindo. When the disastrous floods of 1993 swamp the midwest, the prisoners help with sandbagging the river to protect the town and are affirmed and thanked by the townspeople. This proves a turning point. However, the film makes the harsh point that when the men return from boot camp, they are not employed, are tempted to go back on the streets and hustle drugs.
The film is an interesting film for its targeted audience, but the performances and the earnestness as well as the cause of this kind of training for prisoners make it worthwhile for non-African American audiences.
1. The goal of the film? Its target audience of African Americans, especially those living in the cities? Its warnings? Its exhortations? The cause of promoting different rehabilitation for prisoners?
2. The American cities in the 90s, the danger on the streets? Homes? Prisons, the contrast with the boot camp? The scenes of Mississippi and the midwest?
3. The title, its focus on Greg? His experience in the boot camp, the aftermath?
4. The character of Greg: age, experience, dead father, his sister, his mother and her protectiveness as well as her demands on her son? On the streets, the chase, the arrest? The sentence, his going to the boot camp? His interactions with the other inmates, especially the deal with the man in the kitchen? The scenes of discipline, exercise? His resentment with Calhoun? Calhoun and his criticisms? Challenges? Going to help with the flooding Mississippi, his resentment with the people, his gradual appreciation of their thanks, the meals? His friend and the attack by Calhoun? His wanting to go away? His responding to the breaks in the sandbags? Holding on? The group considered heroic even though the town was flooded? His graduation, Calhoun present? Calhoun continued challenge? His return home, resisting Pookie's temptation to go on the streets, their discussions, the range of job interviews, his presenting himself well, telling his story, rejection? His mother urging him on? His desperation, Pookie's being killed in front of him, his escaping death? His being suicidal, the gun, the photos of the people from the midwest, the recommendation from the head of the boot camp? His trying again - and the postscript saying that he got a job, continued work and became a youth counsellor?
5. Calhoun, his part in the program, his own background, obsessiveness, harsh discipline, the demands, his criticisms, his attack on Greg? His attack on the young man and the young man's anger about his family and children being insulted? His being dismissed by McBride? His returning for the graduation? Motivations, desperation?
6. McBride?, her place in the team, command, the routines, the discipline? Her trying to temper Calhoun? With the floods, urging the men on? Her dismissing Calhoun after the warning? The head of the program, his vision, concern, hopes? His final speech at Greg's graduation?
7. The other inmates, their backgrounds, the discipline of the boot camp, the exercises, the military style? Their going to the flood, the resentment of the military? Calhoun eyeballing the military? Their work, eating the meals, some of them being rude about the food? Calhoun and his making them behave, sending them out, McBride? sending them back in to continue their meal? The achievement, her disappointment at not stopping the flood? The townswoman and her friendship, the meals, her thanking them, telling them that they were heroes for what they had done and saving the people's possessions?
8. The city, the young men, jobless? The chiefs and their wealth? The young women attracted to the wealthy men? The drug deals, the gangs, the shootings in the street - Pookie telling Greg about so many of their friends being dead?
9. The overall effect of this kind of drama, moralising, exhortation? Convincing?
