On January 24, 2018, a young African-American named Adam Ross was shot and killed in New Orleans. He was the brother to Big Freedia, a gay hip hop music artist. Big Freedia was born Freddie Ross, Jr. in 1978 and grew up on the streets of New Orleans and lived there all the way through Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Freedia is a gay man but prefers the pronouns "she" and "her." Freedia released her first album in 2003. The hurricane obviously put a damper on her career. She didn't start releasing music again until 2010. Her fierceness and success led to her getting her own TV show called
Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce (2013). The title referred to the fact that she does bounce music, which is a form of hip hop, and her nickname for herself is "Queen Diva." That TV show ran for six seasons, ending in November 2017. Almost three months later, her brother would be shot and killed.
This documentary, which would be made over the course of a year or so, culminating in the anniversary of her brother's death, is Freedia trying to reconcile what led to her brother's killing and the culture of gun violence at large in the city of New Orleans. Director Chris McKim is doing his fifth or sixth documentary. He's mainly worked in reality TV for the past fifteen years. He was a producer on Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce, but he would probably best be known as a producer for RuPaul's Drag Race, which he began doing in 2010. However, McKim would win an Emmy Award for LOGO's Out of Iraq (2016), a powerful story about two Iraqi men falling in love and the homophobia they faced. Here, Freedia is at the center and she does talk about experiencing homophobia growing up, but this film isn't really about that homophobia. This film is more about gun violence as a whole, understanding it and stopping it.
It comes in the wake of the Oscar-winning
Bowling for Columbine (2002), which was more of an examination of the greater political forces at work and the role of the mass media, looking at the issue from a macro-perspective. This film is more akin to Steve James'
The Interrupters (2011), a film that's more on the ground and in the neighborhoods of where the gun violence was happening, specifically in Chicago. It followed people who lived in those places and who were personally involved. McKim's film does the same, following Freedia because she is one of those people who lived and still lives in those places where gun violence persists. We also get interviews from Charles M. Blow, the black journalist from Louisiana who provides good context as well.
It also presents a more real depiction of New Orleans that most people probably don't see. Most depictions of New Orleans include and often center on the French Quarter and the beautiful nightlife, as well as the bright and colorful celebration of Mardi Gras. Until Hurricane Katrina, a lot of people probably had never heard of the 9th Ward. A lot of people also have probably never heard of the "hood" or "the projects" where Freedia says she grew up, that of Josephine Street up near its intersection with Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Through Freedia, we see the poverty and the desperation that leads to the type of crime, fueling the gun violence.
Freedia attends the memorial of her brother. However, this film documents the memorial services for a number of young black men who lost their lives too soon and needlessly. Several people take note of the fact the victims and perpetrators range in age, but there is a trend that is skewing younger. Freedia decides then to go to a school and talk to young people about it. There, she meets Devin Walker, a 14-year-old who isn't even old enough to drive but already has a rap sheet that consists of 14 criminal charges or as someone describes as if he's living the video game
Grand Theft Auto. Through him, we get an idea of why young black men engage in criminal acts and even gun violence. Often, it's not because they're evil or because they're thugs. Often, it's just out of fear, feeling trapped and unable to escape, trying to survive.
Freedia herself even goes into how she was pushed to a point where she wanted to engage in the same violence that took her brother's life. Yes, it's difficult, but she along with other advocates like Calvin Pep argue that it's about making different choices. The reason that it's difficult is because there are all these pressures. Many of those pressures stem all the way back to the days of slavery and the historical legacy left from that, a legacy of trauma that persists to this day. Some of those pressures stem to ideas of masculinity and manhood, perceptions of what a black man should be and how he should behave, a culture that fosters aggression and revenge as the way to resolve what are called "beefs."
It's troubling because those pressures lead to some horrifying statistics. For example, New Orleans is reported to have the fourth highest homicide rate in the country. In 2019, 92 % of the shooting victims were black. That is a lot of black people being killed. This film is very much in honor of those people. Freedia and the film pay homage to the victims, reminding us of the losses and the PTSD that results. Yet, she also makes a point that it's also about the men who pull the triggers. In that, she visits a prison and sits down to listen to the inmates. Whereas one might feel the film is wallowing in sadness, there is a story that isn't totally tragic. It involves the shooting of Sam Butler, a teenager who was shot on Mardi Gras, a few weeks after the shooting of Freedia's brother. The film interviews Butler's aunt and recounts a heartbreaking story but one that provides a glimmer of hope that had me in tears.
This is an incredible and well-thought out film that is a powerful testimonial from someone on the ground and in the experience of how this gun violence is affecting black people. Yet, it also details the social activism that those same affected people are doing to make things better, to show young people there can be and actually is a better way, so that we stop the needless loss of life.
Not Rated but for general audiences.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 28 mins.
Streamed through OutfestNow.
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