“How can you represent those people?” is a question that all defenders are asked. It often is from well meaning people who have concerns about the criminal justice system but have misguided assumptions about the work that is done for the people. Gideon’s Army, which is going to be aired on HBO on July 1, answers these questions in detail.
We meet three public defenders in the southern parts of the U.S. Brandy, June and Travis are doing everything possible to give the most vulnerable people a fair representation that the Constitution provides. They are a part of a growing movement called Gideon’s Promise which changed its name from Southern Public Defender Training Center in 2013. They are working towards raising the standard of justice that is delivered to poor people in the South.
While the film pays attention to the support that Gideon’s Promise gives to its lawyers, it concentrates more on the crisis that Gideon’s Promise is set to solve. It is narrated from the perspectives of the three principal characters, and hence, it gives us an insight into the personal aspect of this inhuman crisis. It follows the lives of all three ‘nice’ and ‘empathizable’ young people as they go about their life, and like all public defenders, try to cope with the impossible task of trying to defend the officer constitutional ideals of this democracy within what is a terribly under resourced, and virtually unsupportive environment. We observe them struggling to pay their bills, going through some situations, and having self-doubt. And yet they carry on as few of us would be capable of doing.
“Dawn Porter, Director and Producer, has a remarkable way of presenting public defenders that shatters the stereotypes held against them by society, while at the same time declaring the young people portrayed in media as heroines. Thanks to her powerful storytelling, I was able expect the world of public defenders.” Through representation in news and media, a world is constructed of ’us’ against ’them’. The demonized ‘them’ are usually the impoverished, colored individuals which the media has drilled us to abhor. As a consequence, learning to distrust those who defend these individuals is second nature, painting all defenders in a light of incompetence and even worse, complicity to a criminal action.
Porter tackles the issues of society more than any other filmmaker by giving us a chance to view the accused as people instead of monsters. Each of them is a decent person who is trapped within a system that is deeply flawed and makes them vulnerable, often without any fault of their own. Similar to their lawyers, many of these defendants have committed flaws and mistakes, but still, are worthy of compassion. Similar to other documentaries, this one makes us ponder whether we are okay with living in a world where individuals are not given a second chance. But the most important question is, can we consider a public defender a hero of a broken criminal justice system. After spending hours on this captivating documentary, we begin to think of this system as severely malfunctioning and in severe distress. In portraying public defenders as heroes, the film gives a heartfelt answer to the question, “How can you defend these people?”
This documentary begs for reform by highlighting the sacrifices young public defenders make for their flawed system that puts burdens on them while they are struggling to fix the issues we put them in.
The film transparently asks, “What can we do to solve this crisis?” and very inspiringly presents answers. The lawyers enabled by Gideon’s Promise are continuing with the work of slowly transforming the system to abide by its most noble values. As Porter chooses to present it, the story is told by three defenders, each of whom is a member of a community of more than 200 South public defenders, which enables them to succeed. While the work of public defenders is at risk of being thankless, and many may quit or remain unmotivated, they are gauranteed to be trained by a gauranteed promise system. After all, they would be positively encouraged by their circumstances.
As part of the Gideon’s Promise faculty, I am fortunate enough to work alongside lawyers like Brandy, June and Travis everyday. Working around them makes me realize how much they require the support of this movement. I understand the magnitude of how each one of them individually possess the ability to provide justice for the poor and when combined, how they can sometimes literally reshape America’s courtrooms. It is always the diligent direction and the narrative sense of Porter that inspires us to help these lawyers, but especially this movement. So many documentaries point out the terrible problems of our world, but few point to solutions. This one does. Kudos to Porter and the lawyers and the movement she has managed to portray so powerfully. Everyone should watch this movie. Every single attorney and every single citizen.
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