Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)

If solely judged on Tookie Williams during his prison years, Redemption is a cracker-jack piece of film. It drives from the heart a sincerity that here was a man, that basically unleashed gangland hell on America, who desperately craved redemption from his prison cell. He strives to do good, to help communities by way of education in book and oration form, but is the film heavily biased towards the redemptive angle? Is the monster side of Williams soft soaped? Sadly yes it is.We don't need to see continual violence thrust in our faces to know Williams was a very bad egg, but although we see staged flashbacks that break the heart and frighten us, director Vondie Curtis-Hall and writer J.T. Allen are fully committed to garnering empathy for the man. Of course on the flip-side of that, if they showed an abundance of violence perpetrated by Williams, then accusations of glorifying would surely have followed. Yet there has to be a balance, a balance that some film makers do find, but it isn't found here.Is it a story worth telling? Yes it is, of course, and with a superb and controlled performance by Jamie Foxx in the title role driving it forwards, it remains riveting throughout. However, when the dust settles and the end credits roll, what of the victims families blighted by Williams crimes? How must they have felt seeing Williams having a film made about him? A double edged sword movie for sure, artistically above average? Yes. Morally? Questionable. 6/10

I was expecting more balanced story between who He was and who He became, but that doesn't happens here. Instead, 90 % of the movie is concentrated on who He became and it is done well with thoughtful dialogs.Unfortunately it depicts a little of His violent past, blurry presented, and far from enough so we can feel the change. It is a warm story nicely told, but also doesn't goes beyond that, doesn't surprises, but follows a firmly determined line, and in the end instead culminating, slowly fades.However a good job is done her, since this is a hard story to tell. In the end I must say, a great performance by Jamie Foxx, well transformation.

On December 13th, 2005, I read on the Brazilian newspapers that Stanley Tookie Williams III was executed by lethal injection after the denial of clemency from the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tookie was the founder of a Los Angeles gang called Crips, and condemned for the murder of four persons. After almost seven years in the death row at San Quentin, he decided, with the support of a journalist, to write instructive books for children, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and to the Nobel Prize for Literature on the next year.This touching story is very well directed and has another awesome performance of Jammie Fox, probably one of the best American actors in this moment. However, it is very difficult to give an opinion about the polemic and controversial situation of Stanley Williams only based on this movie and a few recent readings. First, I do not know how manipulative this film might be, since it shows only a regenerated and regretted man trying to help children to not follow his path, but never his crimes or how cruel he was while living outside jail. But anyway it is an excellent movie to make the viewer think about some issues. Lets admit that Stan Williams had really regenerated, therefore, accomplishing with the major objective of the penal system. In this situation, his death proves the complete failure of this system, destroying a well-succeeded case of human recovery of a criminal and giving the worst example to the other prisoners. In the other side, there are the relatives and friends of his victims: all of this situation, giving the chance of a murderer writing books for children, would be very offensive for them. I really liked this very awarded and nominated movie. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Redenção" ("Redemption")

First off,"The Nominators – PeaceRight to submit proposals for the Nobel Peace Prize, based on the principle of competence and universality, shall by statute be enjoyed by:1. Members of national assemblies and governments of states; 2. Members of international courts; 3. University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes; 4. Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; 5. Board members of organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; 6. Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1) and 7. Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.The Nobel Peace Prize may also be awarded to institutions and associations.Prize-Awarder: The Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oslo"Not exactly an exclusive list. Being Nominated Doesn't Mean Sh*t!Second, Tookie didn't "found the Crips". He started a Crip gang. Hundreds of Crip gangs exist. You can start your own in your area. Really.Third, his children's books are all of 24 pages long each and he couldn't even do that without "co-author" help.Fourth, poor white males are statistically the most likely to get the death penalty for murder. Look it up.Fifth, one of Tookie's sons in jail for murder and another is wanted for molesting a 15 year old girl (his step-daughter). Apple didn't fall far from the tree.Sixth, he was involved in numerous violent altercations while in jail including threatening to have guards murdered.Seventh, he is an unrepentant murderer, armed robber, and racist.