Documentary+Review

Documentary review

For my documentary reveiw I chose the documentary "Warrior Boyz". The documentary was directed by Viva Mantra and produced in corporation with the National film board of Canada. Strangely enough the documentary does not produce a date of production nor does not it reveal any names of the interviewed patrons with the exeption of high school student who is named Tarnveer and is currently in a struggle with gangs. This documentary is about the reality of gang violence and the uncontrolable outbreak of fighting on the streets and in the neighbourhoods of Canada. This documentary immediately makes me want to watch more because of its beggining and interesting topic also the relatability as a Canadian I want to know the truth about what happens behind closed doors. And this documentary provides just that an inside look into one of Canadas greatest issues. Although this topic for most people is hard to relate to in my personal life in some ways I am able to relate to some of the situations in the characters in the documentary's life, which i will go into more depth later.

The overall if you will plot or the story line of the documentary is to make people realize the true issues going on in Canadian neighbourhoods and in the streets. That there is a really big problem and its not getting better but only worse. It starts off with a member of a gang talking about the issue of fighting and how it can become extremely dangerous in only a short period of time. It states how kids today are so impressionable and will do anything that they think is "cool" or that will make them accepted into a group of people and in this case the anything that they'll do is fighting and th egroup they want to be accepted into is a gang. It goes on to scrutinize todays society in the way that "gangster" life style is being portrayed, how today it has been glorified and people are being made to think its"cool" to do things like join gangs and get into trouble. The documentary goes on to comment on how kids are so impressionable today so far to an extent that th eline between T.V. and reality is blurred. To some people there is no longer a line between what they see on T.V. and what they actually do in real life, in some cases actually immatating the things they see on T.V. Because of this need for acceptance that kids have today they are looking for connecti ons a way in if you will t o be a part of something and they are looking for these connections in the wrong places, from the wrong people. Again it goes back to a member of a real gang and how he started. The gang member remarks that he started just like any other member of most gangs. He started off as a wanna be with a mind set and i quote "Wow holy cow, right these guys are awesome right, they've got this power like nobody screws with them right." and then goes on to say that, that is pretty appealing for someone with self esteem issues and that seeks attention and acceptance. Another interviewed gang m ember acce pt this one is a teenager still under the infleunce of peer pressure and going through the tough choices that someone has to make to get into a gang. In my opinion he wants to be in the gang because he beleives that, thats the only way hes going to be accepted and its a way out of his issues. He states that you cant run away on the streets and in that way, thats how you get respect. In a way fighting is a way to escape his other problems he uses agression to releive hiw other tensions and thats where the appeal to gangs come from, its a way to escape from other things and it's a way to get out of normal society, it offers an almost untouchable feeling yet once you are lured in theres almost no way out. The documentary also depicts a fromer member of a gang that got into a fight with a rival gang member and both parties tried to kill each other. Neither of them succeded and ended up becoming friends. To me that shows that gang violence can lead to you trying to kill people you dont even know for reasons you dont know either. In my opinion thats insane these poeple are able to get along with each other so well yet because of gangs they want to kill each other. Kids that go into gangs today are used for doing other people's dirty work and yet are blinded because they think its some sort of glamorous thing to be. The infleunces teenagers are under is immense and gangs offer a way out and one that is portrayed in todays society as a sort of thing that offers invicibility and higher status among their peers yet sadly the opposite is true. The documentary also showcases a young man named Tarnveer who is in his teens and also struggles with a gang. What Tarnveer like most gang members dont realize is that there are many poeple out there who care about thema nd want to see them succeed and not get involved with some very qeustionable characters. They use gangs as a way to escape their problems yet they people who are perfectly capable of doing that yet they are blinded and cannot see what is right infront of their eyes. Another person who is interviewed comments that she asked a person involved in the fighting why they were fighting and they said thhey couldn't remember anymore. That goes to show that these "gang wars" if you will have been going on so long that the original members are no longer fighting the battles and they simply use impressionable teens who are easy targets, make them new recruits in their gang and essentially send them off to go fight and possibly die, yet still the issues are not being adressed and more and more teenagers still think it is "cool" to join in on gang activaties. This documentary is hard hitting in the way that it makes you take a second look at the real reality at which life in gangs has come to. You can look at kids in high school and begin to wonder is this kid gunna make it past their 25th birthday. The gang issues have gotten so bad that it can make you wonder wether these people are going to survive life on the streets, when they should be getting a second chance, another outlook in life. There shouldnt be any doubts wether highschool kids are going to last another 5-10 years, in our society today we should be not be worried about those kinds of things the issues should not have gotten this bad and this documentary really makes you think hard about the problems we truely have and how they've escalated this quickly. In my life I can relate in such a way that I have come in contact with people in gangs before and I can realize the attraction. People in gangs have more power over you and can effectively do whatever they want to you and you can't do anything back to them because of their deep connections. When you are constantly surrounded by gang members it makes you want to become one because, you feel helpless and you see their power and their success and you want it. Yet at the same time you see and hear of gang members being caught and getting in trouble but still it offers a way out, another option besides the typical options that most people are faced with. Yet once you are in, its not as easy getting out in fact there is almost no way out, gang life is a dnagerous thing and although not many people can say that with a first hand expperience I have, unfortuneatly, experienced it. In my own words gang life has a certain appeal yet it can just as easily ruin you and the people around you.

The characters in this documentary are all gang affiliated or know gang members through school via teaching them or overseeing them in some sort of matter. The former or current gang members tended to dress with more baggy clothes and genrally more jewelry and looked like a typical gang member if portrayed by the media. Although on a side note the retired gang members seemed to fit in wiht normal society more and had less noticable clothing yet still had scars and bruises which told a story of their tragic past. But not only did they wear stereotypical clothes they almost all had clearly visable scars or cuts on their hands or face. the current gang members though seemed to look fairly unstable and talked qeuitly which in my interpretation ment that they went through some drama with their gang and made it hard for them to talk about it, which is expected. Another interesting note is that most of almost all of the people who were interveiwed were of an Indian decent. The other people in the documentary were froma school which had lots of gang violence and wore shirt and tie typical school teacher apparel. These peole though had more of a concerned approach to the problem and were more there as if to plead their case rather than tell tales of gang violence. The opinions on gang violence changed from person to person depending on their background but generally it was split into two main ideas. Those people that came from a gang background where telling about ganglife and you could tell that they had fallen pray to injustices that gang life causes in the way that they spoke about it. They although agreed it was wrong still told storys in my opinion as if they were proud war veterans of some sort. Whereas the other side of the spectrum the people that had not been involved in gangs were more concerned in one case disgusted at what gangs had done and what they had turned people into. They wanted to provide a way out for those involved in gangs and beleived that there was another way to escape their problems instead of turning to gangs and violence.

So to conclude i think the documentary was very well constructed and was shot and edited in a very rough way yet still extremely pleasing. The documentary is a hard hitting one with an extremely effective message and truely makes you realize aand think about your surroundings and the undeniyable truth. I think the director does an amazing job of deleivering his message quickly and effectively yet still leaves me wanting more and lures my imagination into the documentary. All in all grea t documentary.

"8.5 stars out of 10"

Some really good stuff here Jeremy. I especially like how you relate the story to your personal experiences. PROOF READ! 22/24

media type="custom" key="7353377" Follow the Warrior boyz on the their facebook page: []