Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo (Sunday, September 27, 2009)

This is a wonderful documentary by Bradley Beesley about the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo. The title refers to the women who participate in the events (competing directly against the men) who are the main focus of the film. We see that most of them are incarcerated for drug possession and dealing charges (mostly cooking and distributing meth); one woman is in jail for murder. One male rodeo participant, Danny Liles, is also featured as he is a 13-year event veteran and is rather the philosophical and soulful center of the story.

Beesley has an amazing knack for making bright and optimistic films - even about situations that could otherwise be a bit dark or contorversial. As with his earlier efforts, including Okie Noodling and Summercamp!, this film is a perfect example of the happy spirit that pervades his works. The story could have easily gotten into the unfair sentancing and parole rulings or the fact that, as is repeated a few times in the film, Oklahoma has a female incarceration rate roughly twice the national average. It doesn't go down these roads so much, and instead concentrates on the women (and Liles) who are mostly optimistic about their lives, knowing they screwed up in the past but can be better in the future. They talk poetically about how being on the back of a bronc or bull is the closest thing to freedom they feel in their life behind bars. The fabulous acoustic country/bluegrass score by Jason Quever adds a lot to this positive feeling.

My only major criticisim of the film are that I think Liles, despite being a great character, doesn't totally fit into the film so well. It feels like a movie about women in the prison rodeo - oh, and this other guy too. I think he should have either not been in the film, or he should have been used differently - not as a unique character per se, but as a person with experience who has wise things to say about particiapting in the event.

So far this film has not had a theatrical run, however it did play at South by Southwest earlier this year and just recently premiered on Cinemax and is now playing on that channel. It will certainly get to DVD soon and, hopefully, will make it into theaters at some point soon. It's a really great movie with a nice, tight narrative, good action and great characters.

Stars: 3.5 of 4