Many critics have said Crips and Bloods: Made in America is the most powerful documentary Peralta’s ever made, maybe the most powerful anyone has made in years — so why has it been so difficult to let anyone actually see it?
by Donnell Alexander
Former half-pipe legend Stacy Peralta makes resonant documentaries about the echoing subcultures of Los Angeles. The skateboard classic Dogtown and the Z Boys and Peralta’s follow-up surfing history Riding Giants are among Netflix’s most frequently rented non-fiction DVDs. But the director’s breathtaking third film — Crips and Bloods: Made in America — is, to say the least, a bit of a departure, produced in concert with NBA star Baron Davis, who grew up amid South L.A.’s violence. Upon the Forest Whitaker-narrated doc’s debut at Sundance way back in 2007, industry trade Variety said: “Laying out a history while talking directly to former and current members of the Crips and the Bloods, pic assumes a wide aud that’s little informed on the horrors; therein lies its importance, though B.O. and vid returns will come more from overseas than locally, where the reality will be deemed too tough to swallow.” They knew what they were talking about — despite all the accolades, Made in America couldn’t even find a U.S. distributor, and other than an occasional film festival showing has languished unseen until finally getting a limited release now in theaters and on DVD. Peralta compares the film’s saga to a basketball that’s rolling around the rim.
Watch the trailer:
What do you feel the relationship of this film is to your others?
Politically, it’s a big leap, but they’re all about subcultures. I don’t look at my other films as sporting films, I look at them as subcultures. But this one of course is dealing with life and death. It’s dealing with a historical depth that very few people understand. And it’s dealing with something that’s unfolding day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade. And it continues, unabated.
Why did you make Made in America?
The producer who introduced me to Baron Davis came to me after my previous two films and said, “I want to work with you. I like your work. What do you want to do next?” And I proposed this project. He was like, “What do you want to do that for?” I said, “Okay, imagine if white, middle class American teenagers were forming gangs and arming themselves with automatic assault rifles and killing themselves on a consistent basis. What do you think the response of our government would be and what do you think the response of our society would be?” He went, “Okay, I get it. It would be over like that.”
How did you get to be in the thick of these Crip and Blood neighborhoods?
The neighborhoods are Balkanized. Every neighborhood is a state with its own history, its own historic figures, its own inception point. And every neighborhood has its own shot caller. You could compare that person to Tony Soprano, in a sense. I had to get to that person, introduce myself, say who I was, what my intentions were. Once I did that and followed through on everything I said, everything was cool. That guy would bring me into his neighborhood, introduce me around, and there were no questions asked — it was like family once you’re with him or her. Everyone required that, every single neighborhood.
The emotion of Made in America is striking. How did you get so many hardcore gangstas into a comfort zone?
Baron is from these neighborhoods. His parents were on drugs. They passed him to his grandparents. His grandparents raised him. Because of his talent playing basketball, he got a scholarship to Crossroads High School in Santa Monica. he lived two separate lives. Daytime [in Santa Monica], weekends and nighttime in the ’hood. He said he would have gone the same direction as all the other kids in his neighborhood had it not been for basketball and the school.
Here’s what I told Baron when he decided that we would do this. I said, “Look, before I spend any of the budget, I need to see if I can make this movie because I don’t know if I can. I need you to let me go in with a few cameras, because I have to answer two questions. Number one: Can I get access, can I get a pass? Number two: If I do, will they even be vulnerable to me, will they be open to me? I gotta answer those questions, so give me four weeks and a couple of cameras.”
I was in there to ask them about themselves, their dreams, what they want in life. I was just direct and professional. And when you do that, they open up like that. I was told on a number of occasions, “We’re not used to white people coming in and behaving as you are.” I’d come and meet them without cameras. I’d meet ’em, establish a relationship, and they had never had that happen before. So, it’s a combination of building that support and building that relationship. Also there’s a following through. All these gang members were invited to the production offices anytime. We tried to give them spare jobs on the film. They’d come in, we showed them pieces, we’d get their feedback. And they helped shape the film as well.
What was it like getting that kind of reception at Sundance?
Sundance was fantastic. I had five gang members staying with me at a house that we rented up there. Crips and Bloods from various sets, various ages. The first night we screened the film, standing room only, I brought these guys onstage and they got a standing ovation. From that point on, there were a number of A-list studios interested in buying the film. Every screening after that, five in total, we had standing room only and were turning people away at the door. You can usually tell how a film plays from how many people stay for the Q&A afterwards. I usually lose about 30 to 40 percent of our audience. We were keeping 90 percent of our audience. They were completely engaged. We always knew this was going to be a circuit breaker.
So what happened with the distribution?
People seem really scared about it. I can’t tell you the people who have said this, but some of the most prominent film buyers, studio execs, in the independent film world have said to us, “Not a good film — a great film. Don’t sell this to anybody but us” …and then disappear. It was as if somebody upstairs was saying, “Don’t touch this film. It’s too much trouble.
What’s hard for me is, Hollywood calls itself a liberal town. There are a lot of people in Hollywood who pay attention to Darfur and what’s happening in the Sudan. But there seems to be total reticence about the tragedies that are happening in our communities 15 minutes from Hollywood’s doorstep. They want to turn a blind eye toward it. They don’t want to deal with it. I don’t know why.
I had one company that was really interested in the film, and one of their acquisition people said to me, “I have an African-American nanny who’s been living with us for 12 years. After seeing this film, I’ll never, ever look at her the same way again.” Now, they don’t typically show their hands like this, because they want the best deal. But they were being so effusive about their desire to be involved in this film. And then something clicked. This is the strangest experience I’ve ever had.
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March 11th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I won’t watch it…glorify gang member as anything but a group of drug dealers and criminals…what a joke.
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Jake Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I agree. I’d rather watch a doc. about eliminating this scum from my city.
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nip Reply:
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 am
its all your guys faault if you think about it
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Chris Bee Reply:
August 8th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Tyler your the joke. This doc is about how some folks didn’t have any other options. “I’m white” by the way actually 100% Italian. Both sets of grandparents and other relatives came over and where treated like animals. In no way am i’m trying to compare because they at least had some options. White people who I’ve always been ashamed of, Killed or arrested just about every influential positive african american leader. Plus these same ignorant white folks used them as slave then “freed them” and said “you stay here and don’t come near(whites) us.
I’m very sorry for what white people did,and still are doing to African americans and other races. I grow up in the city and I’ve seen good and bad from all kinds of people. God Bless
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Tyler Reply:
August 9th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Really, chris you sond like an uninformed fool. I worked with inner city schools, made great gains in the personal relationships with gang members and would tell them the same thing I stated above. Funny how the people living it don’t deny the truth, but a moron like you tells me again how this is supposed to change how I see the reality how gangs work. There is always an option besides gangs, fool.
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March 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Tyler, it seems you are exactly who does need to see this film, if for no other reason than to educate yourself and reconsider the social context which allows you to so comfortably judge in such a simple knee jerk manner.
Thanks, Donnell, for bringing this to our attention.
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March 15th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I worked with students deep in gang life…you watch it and tell me how and educated person should view gangs.
The trailer says it all about the film, and who to blame for the violence.
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March 17th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I have been following Stacey Peralta since before “Search for Animal Chin”. His love for humanity, his community, and digging up subject matter that seems to have been lost in the shuffle is daunting. To me this film depicts a problem that America refuses to address. Los Angeles has been a virtual battle zone for half of a century. Every decade or so it boils over into neighboring communities and then we stand up take notice. Shortly after we all turn the TV back to The Hills. It is typical but sad that this film has not been shown in mainstream venues.
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March 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Seems I recall another film that had some difficulty getting a distributor: it was Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” That risk was handsomely rewarded. My gut tells me that “Crips and Bloods: Made in America” will get a distributor eventually and surprise the execs with a nice profit. Let’s face it… this could be a cult film. And with all the gangs in this country, most gangstas will probably see it… even if from a prison cell.
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March 25th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Providing an empathic perspective on gang violence is what is needed to solve the problem of gang violence. Zero Tolerance hasn’t produced any beneficial results, and I’m glad that Stacey is providing this perspective. I recently saw a film at Slamdance of a similar subject that floored me. It’s about how a principle in a Newark high school has been able to ebb gang violence by engaging the leaders in diplomatic discussions. If you appreciate this film you will want to follow Heart of Stone… the director gave a phenomenal interview about what we’ve been talking about here: http://www.zoom-in.com/film-tv/on-the-circuit/on-the-circuit-beth-toni-kruvant-heart-of-stone
They link to the movie’s website as well. I’m glad that there are documentaries getting produced on this subject. We need to do what we can to expose them.
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April 2nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
This is an excellent interview. And the focus of said interview, “Made in America: Crips and Bloods,” is a most disturbing and profound production. We need more works like this which serve to challenge us, make us uncomfortable, cause us to think, and inspire us to act. A most timely interview at a most crucial time. Be Blessed!
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April 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Stacey Peralta is the biggest hack in town….I`ve worked with him on 2 movies and he`s probably the worst experience I`ve ever had in 25 years of film making. He gives no credit, and postures himself as some skate royalty. He rips people off and claims their work as his.He can kiss my ass and as far as Lords of Dogtown?…..He was a little ratfuck that couldn`t surf…I NEVER saw him in the line-up! And I was in the water every day….Lords of Dogtown? Pure fiction from some wanna be.
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April 27th, 2009 at 8:36 am
i kinda get what you mean actually
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March 29th, 2010 at 10:58 am
For anyone who was a fan of Crips and bloods, I have heard that a new documentary will be launched this week about the Dutch branch of CRIPS. It sounds like it’ll keep us on the edge of our seats – drug deals, clean-ups and honest moments of regret. Emmy and Bafta award-winning filmmaker, Joost van der Valk, gained unbelievable access to the CRIPS gang in the Netherlands to make CRIPS Strapped ‘N Strong.
CRIPS follows a range of characters but mainly focuses on three – Main C, is, fresh out of jail, and fighting to get out of the gang to be a father and Santos is lying low and wants to “become somebody” again but leader, Keylow, holds the cards to both their fates. Their world pulsates with a hip-hop soundtrack, and every breathtaking second is set to offer up life, death, love, hate, getting out or getting caught…
It looks like a jaw-dropping insight into the Dutch branch of the CRIPS gang and the clips I’ve got a look at seem to suggest it’ll also investigate the political ingredients of one of the world’s deadliest gangs. I can’t wait – check it out at:
http://www.journeyman.tv/60201/documentaries/crips-strapped-n-strong.html
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