Colman Domingo reciting Shakespeare is going to work for me one hundred percent of the time. It’s a perfect intro to this film, a steady hand putting spin on Oberon’s monologue in Midsummer Night’s Dream. And it’s the casting of Domingo that sets up the movie for a bulk of it’s success. In ‘Sing Sing’ we meet a group of prisoners at the high security prison by the same name that are part of the RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts) program. Inspired by the book by the real life counter part of Colman Domingo’s character, John “Divine G” Whitfield, a bulk of the cast are actual members of the RTA program, including scene stealer Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin.

Every member of the cast captures their moment. It’s the blurred line of fact and fiction that makes ‘Sing Sing’ so engaging. Maclin’s performance as a hardened drug dealer who uses his charisma and threatening aura to portray Hamlet in the prison’s play is at the center of what makes this film shine, arguably more so than that of Domingo’s approach to leading the cast. As much as the movie needed Colman’s abilities and name recognition to get itself off the ground, the real importance of the film is stated more boldly by the rest of the cast. While I’m sure they were grateful to have the help of an Academy Award Nominated actor in their midst, this movie is about the actors and former inmates of the RTA program and the challenges they face in their odysseys towards freedom.

Colman’s casting does help in more than name recognition of course, it helps with expectations. We expect to see Divine G ace his audition for the next play at the penitentiary, he’s been at it for a long time, and like any tenured theater kid is largely used to getting his way. So when he loses the role he is aiming for to the abrasive Divine Eye it gives a chance for not only the newcomer in the theater to take a crack at the bat of giving a moving monologue, but in the context of the movie it gives an actual former RTA member more screen time. This movie is after all, not about the professional actors that are here to run support.

As the troupe lands on a play of their own imagination to play Colman’s Divine G seems frustrated and a little annoyed. The world is not going exactly as he would like it to, as he believes it should. As he grapples with this realization in among the RTA members, he also is attempting to prove his innocence in the crime that has him locked up. Prison is an unfair, unjust, and inhumane place, and even the people that are on their best behavior are not immune to the cruel realities of that fact. Bedroom checks leaving his belongings dumped on the floor, sirens that force him to the drop to the ground face down, and a justice system that is far more interested in keeping him and his friends inside than out are all a part of the world that Divine G has to face, outside of him not getting the role of Hamlet.

It’s a terrific performance from Domingo, balancing this man that must believe in the system, not only to try to get himself out of this unjust world he inhabits, but also to be a beacon to those that he tries to help. Whereas Maclin’s “Divine Eye” truly believes there is no hope. He doesn’t understand why anyone would try to remind themselves of life outside. At one point “G” has an acting note for “Eye” and pulls him outside to have a word. Divine Eye threatens him with a knife for bringing him into a secluded corner, shattering the safety of the world of theater kids that we had just been in. The film pulls this trick several times, showing these men goofing off, playing improv games, and then hard cutting to guards dumping their personal belongings onto the floor. It’s an incredibly well constructed way to both humanize prison populations, and also remind the audience of the treatment they go through day in and day out.

My only real issue with the film is that it often looks a little cheap. This is probably because they wanted to keep set and setting simple. Putting everyone up close and personal not with the prison, but the prisoners, and it certainly excels at that. There are plenty of close ups on the RTA members, forcing you to stare them in the eye as they deliver their auditions. But a huge part of film, and of the plays that they are putting on is pizzazz, and the movie does wind up looking and feeling a little drab after awhile.

Because so much of the cast are RTA members it’s an odd blend of documentary and fiction. When the credits roll many of the cast is simply listed as “Actor Name” as “Himself.” Even the character portrayed by Academy Award nominee Paul Raci “Brent Buell” is a real person that has a cameo in the film. With this much real life bleeding into the film some might wonder why not just make a documentary, and the answer should be somewhat obvious. These men are actors, they didn’t learn how to make documentaries in prison. They learned how to put on a show. And put on a show they certainly did.

4/5