THE COOLER BANDITS (John Lucas, 2014)
Aaron Davis Hall, City College
160 Convent Ave.
Thursday, September 11, $11, 7:00 (all-day Thursday pass $25)
Festival runs September 10-14 at City College, Maysles Cinema, and Columbia University
www.coolerbandits.com
www.harlemfilmfestival.org
Most prison documentaries are about drugs, violence, race, systemic abuse and corruption, politics, and social justice, focusing on frightening crime statistics. But first-time director John Lucas takes a different approach in the thoroughly engaging new film The Cooler Bandits. In 1991, Ohio teenagers Charlie Kelly, Donovan Harris, Richard “Poochie” Roderick, and Frankie Porter pulled off a string of restaurant robberies in which they locked employees in refrigeration rooms or freezers. Caught, tried, and convicted, the four friends got vastly different sentences; while Harris accepted a plea bargain and got 16 to 50 years, the others went to trial: Kelly and Roderick received sentences of 60 to 150 years and Porter 200 to 500 years. But Lucas, a longtime Ohio photojournalist, doesn’t concentrate on the men’s past, their fair or unfair treatment, or their experiences behind bars; instead, the film follows them from 2006 to 2013 as Harris adjusts to life outside and his release before the others, Kelly and Roderick prepare for possible parole, and Porter faces much more time in prison. Kelly and Roderick, in particular, speak openly and honestly about their plans for their future, thinking about education, careers, and family, fully accepting their punishment without any chips on their shoulders despite sentences that even the prosecutor agrees were far too harsh. They refuse to turn themselves into victims, making for a surprising and refreshing film. Lucas also speaks with their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins, who are much more emotional than the four men; while standing by their family members, they recognize that the group committed serious crimes that deserved jail time, but they also want them to still be able to have a chance at a good life on the outside. The Cooler Bandits is screening September 11 at 7:00 at Aaron Davis Hall as part of the ninth annual Harlem International Film Festival; it will be preceded by Melanie Hibbert’s Coalition for Women Prisoners: Harlem NYC and Indrani Kopal’s The Game Changer and followed by a performance and Q&A with the filmmakers. Among the other films at the five-day fest, consisting of nearly one hundred shorts and features from more than two dozen countries, are Jason Paul Laxamana’s Magkakbaung (The Coffin Maker), Tim Wilkerson’s Oracles of Pennsylvania Ave., Joel Lamangan’s Kamkam (Greed), and Kevin Chu’s I See Love.