Prison Song (film)
| Prison Song | |
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Prison Song DVD cover
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| Directed by | Darnell Martin |
| Produced by |
Robert De Niro Brad Epstein Jane Rosenthal |
| Written by |
Q-Tip Darnell Martin |
| Starring |
Q-Tip Mary J. Blige Harold Perrineau Fat Joe Noreaga |
| Cinematography | Alexander Gruszynski |
| Edited by | Peter C. Frank |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Prison Song is a 2001 American film directed by Darnell Martin. A prison film, its plot concerns a boy brought up in group homes who has a gift and passion for art.
The film centers around 10-year-old intelligent Elijah Butler (Justin 'DJ' Spaulding) living in New York. His mother (Mary J. Blige) is a hard-working woman who has spent the last several years attending night school – with the eventual goal of becoming a lawyer. Given that she is from a lower class area, she is having a tough time finding employment as a legal secretary. Her fiance, Cee (Harold Perrineau), a photographer and supporter of the family, has a genuine bond with Elijah. Later, Cee is incarcerated after assaulting an officer who began harassing him on a street corner for taking pictures of passing pedestrians. He ends up serving twenty-five to life term for having three consecutive charges.
Later that night, Elijah and his best friend, Thomas Wilson (Dominique Walters), find themselves incarcerated at a juvenile correctional facility for playing a prank on a police officers with a laser pointer. When Elijah's mother comes to get him and is told he could not be released, Elijah is taken from her with both trying their best to get to one another. She assaults an officer by stabbing him with a pen and then is taken to a mental institution. The officer she assaulted tried to stop her when she tries to take Elijah out of the facility. Elijah has one visit with his mother who is unaware of her surroundings due to obvious medication given from the facility. Elijah eventually is released from the juvenile facility and put in a foster home.
The film picks up years later, and Elijah (Q-Tip) is now a sensitive adult with dreams of becoming an artist with the support of his girlfriend Jolie (Denee Rivera). He is offered a spot at a prestigious art school under scholarship, but it gets taken away and is now unable to afford the tuition. Much to the chagrin of Cee who Elijah still sees through prison visits, Elijah considers a foray into the world of drug dealing. Though he eventually decides against that route, he winds up in jail for accidentally killing one of his foster brothers Big Pete (Fat Joe) by pushing him on to the subway tracks during an altercation. Elijah is then found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to fifteen years to life.
When he gets to jail, he is reunited with Thomas (Eric McCollum). Having a hard time adapting to prison life, Elijah takes an art class and paints works of art that impresses his fellow prisoners; however, due to funds, the art class is discontinued, much to his dismay. The prisoners are then subjected to hard labor on an abandoned building. Elijah then stages an uprising by setting fire to the building, which puts him in solitary confinement. Life for the prisoners gets worse when the officers take away the water, gym, physical education and classes, which sends Elijah to his breaking and decides to break out.
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