Tay
This film is low-budget and cringe-worthy in its lack of subtlety and realism.But worse than those flaws is the skewed narrative on which a hardened mass murderer who went to his grave refusing to admit to his multiple murders is painted as a Nelson Mandela-like figure.The film departs from reality so much that it must be seen for what it is: historical revisionism with a heavy dose of Evil Whitey.That the film has the gall to present multiple cold-blooded murders (including the shotgun killing of a family for some cash) as "internalised racism" is infuriating.The murders are brushed over and barely mentioned, the actual details of which paint a very different picture of the man.Stan "Tookie" Williams went to his grave refusing to actually redeem himself and confess to his murders, he refused to help police by giving insight into the Crips, he continued to associate with Crips in prison.I cannot even relate to the level of naivete required to buy this narrative.I would urge anyone to read about Tookee's crimes, racial hatred and appeals based upon racist treatment from juries.The only reason I would watch this movie again is to tally up how many scenes have an over-the-top hate-filled white guy making poor Tookee's prison life difficult.Shame on the Nobel committee. I do not blame Jamie Foxx, he was early in his career and was probably desperate for a role. He was actually great but the character was intolerable.
Doug Thorburn
Although we can't be sure how much of the persona is real, Jamie Fox beautifully portrays Tookie Williams in this well-made film. Likewise, Lynn Whitfield plays the endearing journalist Barbara Becnel, who asks Tookie to provide information for her upcoming book on gang history. The roles, in the end, reverse, when Becnel realizes Tookie needs her help in delivering his message.The flaw in the movie, as in so many that portray addicts, is the failure to link convoluted thinking and misbehaviors to alcohol and other drug addiction. Tookie explains he helped start the Crips to "protect the neighborhood." Responding to Becnel's comment that it was a criminal enterprise from the start, Tookie replies that the cops weren't protecting anyone. "Either I was going to be a victim or a victimizer." However, he failed to note that he'd been doing drugs since at least age 13, when he sniffed glue, and didn't co-found the Crips until he was 18. And like most other hard-drug addicts, he was probably an early-stage alcoholic from the start.When Becnel asks, "How can you possibly justify shooting a man who looks just like you?" Williams responded, "At the core is an embedded sense of self-hate…you start to believe those…stereotypes…depicting that the majority of blacks are buffoons or functioning illiterates, promiscuous, violent, welfare recipients and criminals…You lash out at those individuals that fit those stereotypes…trying to obliterate those negative images." However, Tookie neglected to mention the alcohol and other drugs consumed in addictive quantities by most of those having such belief systems, including him in his prior life. Such drugs cause distortions of perception and memory in susceptible individuals, of which he is one. Nor did the movie forge the link between his sobriety and change of heart, which is crucial to understanding the man.He was too out-of-control for his mother, who took him to his father—whom he had never met—and who promptly abandoned him. While now eloquent and likable, he didn't remark on when he first used drugs—which may have been a period leading to his out-of-control behaviors.Becnel put her history aside when Tookie told her, "I don't want to leave my legacy here as simply being the co-founder of the Crips, if I can keep a kid from coming to this place…" He tells her he wants to right his wrongs by writing children's books and shooting not people, but videos, in which he would apologize for his part in creating the Crips. "I deeply regret the legacy that it left because it left a legacy of genocide: black on black genocide." While making it clear that the course of violence must be reversed, he again ignores the role of alcoholism and other-drug addiction in creating the mindset that leads to the lion's share of abuse, including the ultimate crimes.At one point, the film points out he stopped using when he decided to seek redemption. The link is blurred, but at least it's there. He stopped using, which allowed him to seek redemption; redemption is impossible while still using, because the active addict thinks he's God.What the movie lacks in forging the link between addiction and misbehaviors, it makes up for in good acting and speeches of atonement. "We do good because it makes us feel alive. The first half of my life I was dead…but now the second half I get a chance to live and do something about it. And if I have to die in order to show the meaning—the true meaning of it—then so let it be." And, he points out the importance of self-responsibility in speeches to children: "This place (prison) does not make you a man. The moment you begin to make excuses for yourselves, that's the moment you get on to a pathway leading straight to here." And, "My violent gang past is unworthy of imitation or praise." He admits his greatest mistake ever was to co-found the Crips, while explaining that life is all about choices and that to assume there wasn't a choice is "just an excuse." However, he fails to point out that he never would have engaged in repetitive and horrific criminal behaviors if he hadn't inherited addiction, a common failure among addicts who all-too-often don't understand their own disease.Nonetheless, it's a good movie about redemption. My understanding of alcoholism--on which I write extensively--has turned me into a strong believer in the idea of allowing addicts to do what they can to right their sometimes heinous wrongs, if they are willing. The movie portrays him as having made a very decent attempt, even if the wrong can never be fully righted.
jdpoetry1
The life of Stanley "Tookie" Williams has been wrought with a series of highs and lows that the multi-talented genius, Jamie Foxx, so convincingly brings to the big screen. So fortunate we are to witness, in our lifetimes, such creativity (Foxx) and courage (Williams). Although we make mistakes, we must remember not to allow those mistakes the ruin our futures.Let the Redeemed Say So Can we execute a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize? Can we smile before his face while plotting his demise? Can we claim to hear his voice and yet close our eyes? Can we take away dreams and preach hateful lies? Can we ignore the redeemed and his silent cries? Refuse to forgive him, continue to forbid him When he is not the same, he wants to teach He has children all over the globe to reach By John D. Evans We cannot change the mistakes of our past, but we can make a change for the better.God save Stanley "Tookie" Williams
terrileggins
I watched the movie and think like what every one else thinks. Once your locked up and facing a long sentence of course your going to change or find god. So, what ever happened to tookie because at the end of movie it doesn't say. I know that he was still awaiting death role but did he die or what? Also, does anyone know what the real Stan Willams looked like? Did he have kids before going too prison? People can change so, you cant say that he was full of it when he started writing children's books. I too don't believe in the death pentaitly. I also think that he was serous about changing. And that is all i have to say. If anyone can answer these questions please do so because i'm curious.
