Film depicts female inmates in a new light
As part of Lehigh's V-Week, a film exploring the lives of female inmates
was shown last Wednesday.
The movie, titled "What I Want My Words to Do to You: Voices from Inside
a Women's Maximum Security Prison," takes place at Bedford Hills
Correctional Facility for Women and follows 15 inmates through many
writing workshops during which they undergo a series of talks and
exercises that help the women deal with their varied pasts and
individual crimes.
The writing exercise workshops were led by Eve Ensler, an activist,
playwright and performer, who is best known for her work writing "The
Vagina Monologues," a play consisting of many monologues read by women.
The monologues portray female sexuality and vulnerability.
The writing assignments are simple at first, broaching the topic of the
details of each woman's individual crime, many of which involve murder.
As the class progresses, so do the writing assignments, with each one
digging just a bit further into the personal and private lives of the
women.
The workshops offer assistance with writing and a forum through which
the women can talk and comfort one another.
"You've been forced to become your mistake," Ensler said in the movie.
"But we must forget mistakes. We must put them to bed. Just because
there's a bottom line result, doesn't mean the truth isn't conflicting."
Ensler, in addition to leading the workshops and helping the women cope,
had assembled a strong group of actresses to portray the stories written
by the women from Bedford Hills. Mary Alice, Zoe Caldwell, Ruby Dee,
Rosie Perez, Glenn Close, Hazelle Goodman, Marybeth Hurt, Phylicia
Rashad and Marisa Tomei have all participated and donated time to this
cause.
A smaller group, consisting of Goodman, Tomei, Close, Alice and Perez,
gathered to rehearse and perform some of the works and writings done by
the women in the writing workshops at a performance at Bedford Hills.
They, as well as the inmates, had private sessions with Ensler to work
on the pieces that were to be presented at a show at Bedford Hills.
Some of the pieces were very emotionally involved and required more
practice and training. Close performed a heart-wrenching piece written
by Cynthia Berry, an inmate who was formally a drug-addict and
prostitute imprisoned for the murder of a 71-year-old man.
"In my actor's mind, I can understand what murder might feel like,"
Close said in the movie. "But I'll really need to think this role over."
Many of the pieces were nostalgic of life prior to the women's life in
prison.
"Even though I didn't pull the trigger, my bad decision helped load the
gun," Pamela Smart said in the film. Smart is an inmate who had an
affair with a high school student, and the events of which ultimately
led to the murder of her husband.
"I ended up forgiving him, but I never forgot. Bottom line, I knew
better," she said.
Judith Clark, another inmate, said she also longs for life before
prison.
"So many of my actions were hardly worth the cost of the attention they
brought," Clark said in the film.
Clark was a former member of the Weather Underground Organization, an
American radical group aimed at creating a clandestine revolutionary
party to overthrow the U.S. government. Her participation in a robbery
in New York resulted in the death of three men.
The climax of the movie involves the actresses portraying the roles of
the inmates, performing dramatic readings of the letters and papers the
inmates wrote at an intimate performance at the Bedford Hills facility.
Some monologues were funny, while others were difficult to listen to.
Despite the material, all were extremely well-received.
"This show captured how fragile life is," Monica Szlekovics said in the
film. Szlekovics is an inmate torn by the responsibility to inform her
mother of the strong chance that she will never leave prison.
"This is my reality now," she said.
"My favorite part was hearing the women talk about how they have changed
throughout their years in incarceration," said Brittany Fisher, '11, a
student who attended the movie. "Although for a moment in their lives
they were defined as murderers or drug traffickers, this no longer
defines who they are. They are women who help, who teach, who give, and
who have changed their own lives."
The showing of the film was in correlation with Lehigh's V-Week, a week
dedicated to the global movement to end violence against women and girls
through productions and shows, such as "The Vagina Monologues."
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http://media.www.thebrownandwhite.com/media/storage/paper1233/news/2011/02/15
/News/Film-Depicts.Female.Inmates.In.A.New.Light-3976853.shtml
Via InstaFetch
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