THE BLACK JACKET REVIEWED
“The Black Jacket” follows Aquil Basheer as he looks to bring peace to South Central Los Angeles. Armed with curriculum adopted by the LA City Council, Basheer decides to make things matter at home. We watch Aquil as he breaks the cycle of dependence for poor community and gangs. You can’t exist if you depend on others, so the future is independence. Self-reliance is the message of the day and Aquil Basheer faces a ton of trouble.
What Basheer does with some of the young people profiled is too be respected. The film was shot rather rough, but captures the immediacy of the situation. While the film runs only 95 minutes, the experience will stay with you for days to come. I respect seeing a documentary about societal issues not asking for handouts. In fact, Basheer’s Black Panther roots come shining through in his teaching methods. Solid work all around and another fine documentary brought to us from our friends at Virgil Films.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Nothing
A/V STATS
- 1.78:1 standard transfer
- Dolby Digital 2.0
