Sing Sing (15)
Directed by Greg Kwedar
★★★★

 
THE transformative power of art to rehabilitate and restore people’s humanity is at the centre of this stirring prison drama, which refreshingly is devoid of all the usual jail tropes.
 
It’s based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) programme based in Purchase College NY. More than 85 per cent of the cast were formerly incarcerated at New York notorious Sing Sing prison and had gone through the RTA.

They are all phenomenal at playing versions of themselves.
 
The film follows Divine G (Colman Domingo) who was jailed for a crime he did not commit but who found his raison d’etre by acting in this theatre group. He then befriends and signs up angry and volatile newcomer Divine Eye (Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin).
 
While there are no cliched scenes of brutality, co-writer and director Greg Kwedar keeps the tension simmering and on the boil throughout as you expect violence to erupt at any time.
 
The film is anchored by an breathtaking performance from Domingo who goes through a whole gamut of emotions in a single scene demonstrating this raw vulnerability and endless optimism in helping fellow prisoners find themselves as they stage a crazy time-travelling comedy called Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code by Brent Buell (the original video of the performance is shown over the final credits).
 
It is G’s clemency hearing which he has been preparing for meticulously which delivers the greatest gut punch, and the appalling questions and remarks he faces are taken straight from the transcript of the real hearing.

Of course the mantra “trust in the process” is complete BS as it is rigged and broken.  
 
Awe-inspiring yet heartbreaking  — but definitely worth seeing.
 
In cinemas from tomorrow.