Summary Of They Call Us Monsters '

On January 20, 2017 the documentary They Call Us Monsters was released. They Call Us Monsters was directed by Ben Lear and goes behind the walls of the Los Angeles County Jail, which houses some of the most violent juvenile criminals. The documentary focuses on three inmates they are all teenagers with one being in prison since age fourteen. The documentary surrounds itself with the lives of Juan, Jared, and Antonio who are taking a screenwriting class from the producer Gabe Conway. Juan who was arrested at age sixteen faces 90-to-life for first-degree murder; Jared who was also arrested at sixteen faces 200-years on four attempted murders; Antonio who was arrested at age fourteen and faces 90-to-life for two attempted murders. As the boys

The documentary showcases a scene of Jared acting childish while working on the screenplay. In the scene he is fidgets with the producer’s hair and ear. While doing this the camera is at a low angle and zooms in on his face while he is laughing. The director’s choice of doing a close up of Jared’s face showcases the immaturity and emotion Jared has. With such an intimate scene viewers are able to determine Jared is not taking the screenplay seriously and it seems to be a joke to him. Jared’s careless body language is the strongest factor that implicates this reaction by viewers. Jared knew that he was being filmed during this particular scene and made the conscious decision to act childish. It seems obvious that Jared is trying to stray away from serious work that could benefit him in the end. The documentary also portrays the three boys as coming from similar living conditions and troubled pasts. The film takes a look into the home of Antonio after he was released from prison. The camera is at a high angle and pans over a cramped one bedroom apartment covered in trash with four toddlers sleeping on the

During the beginning of the documentary viewers are introduced to an inmate named Darrell who has been transferred to an adult prison. Though Darrell is only in the documentary for a couple minutes he has a huge impact in allowing viewers to understand prison conditions. Darrell writes to his father, “Dear Pop’s… The cell is nasty. Mattresses got blood all over it. Roaches big as rats. It’s hot as hell in these cells… Ain’t no family ain’t no love.” Living conditions like these are not any that a human should have to encounter. An inmate should not have to rest their head at night on someone else's bodily fluids it can cause infections and the spread of disease. Inmates are thought as being thugs and hard but Darrell displays to viewers he is still human and needs to be in a condition made for human beings. For Juan, Jared, and Antonio prison conditions are equally as bad. According to Nathan Martinez who is part of the prison staff, “They only get one hour a week [outside], and they love that hour a week.” It is easy for viewers to understand why these boys are only allowed one hour a week outside, they are high risk offenders. It is precarious to allow these inmates the freedom that any human craves and wants. It is very noticeable that the boys want this freedom as well, the director successfully does this by making the scene a montage of the boys