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PBS Street Gang Documentary Pulls No Punches
The filmmakers follow these young men through the course of their lives, watching them iron clothes, kiss their babies, extort money from bus drivers, peddle pot, pop in and out of prison. And they managed to obtain incredible access to their subjects: We see Slappy fight with his wife and watch him sob after she leaves him. We watch them discipline each other (18 kicks, counting off each one). We listen in as tearful Travieso begs his absentee mother, who is working as a domestic in the United States, to send for him.
"I don't care that you don't send me money," he tells her, his voice breaking. "I want to be with you."
  Signs of the times: Loony, left, and Diablo, two leaders of San Salvador's 18th Street gang. (By Tim Watts) |
The next day, we watch him prepping to go out on a kill.
Death is ever-present in their lives: We watch them all crowd around a coffin to sing to a fallen "homeboy," index and middle fingers splayed in the 18th Street sign. Charlie, still a teen, boasts about how he gets to do things most kids his age don't: kill people. Another muses that he'd like to live a long time. He's 17. He'd love to see 37. Maybe even 39.
The filmmakers don't judge their subjects, instead letting us come to our own conclusions about them and their choices. At times, however, this impassivity undercuts the film's power: We don't get to hear from the people the gangbangers terrorize, or witness the grief of the families of the rivals they kill.
Another quibble: The subjects, many of them bilingual, flit back and forth between English and Spanish, and at first, the film keeps up, translating with unobtrusive but skillful subtitles, capturing the flavor of their speech. Then, rather abruptly, the filmmakers abandon the subtitles, dubbing over Spanish speakers' voices with very proper English. The effect is jarring, and for Spanish speakers who'd no doubt prefer to hear the Spanish, profoundly annoying.
Still, "18" makes for powerful watching. We can't help but feel for these young men -- even though if we encountered them on a dark street, we'd want to run in the opposite direction.
Wide Angle: 18 With a Bullet (one hour) debuts tonight at 9 on WMPT (Channel 22) and at 10 on WETA (Channel 26).
