As co-directed by Anne Marie Stein, Andrew Kukura, and Massachusetts-based psychologist-cum-anthropologist Jenny Phillips, the documentary The Dhamma Brothers relays one of the most astounding recent tales of social evolution in contemporary America. The events in question began circa 1999, with several lifetime convicts incarcerated in Alabama's Donaldson Correctional Facility who commenced regular Buddhist meditation sessions in that institution. Deeply intrigued by this unusual sociological
development, Phillips traveled to the penitentiary in the fall of 1999 to interview the men, and -- incredibly -- found that the meditation sessions prompted the group to look inward, facing their demons and the direct causes of their criminal activity; the sessions thus inaugurated an authentic, deep-seated healing process in each individual. Phillips interviewed the men one by one -- sessions that brought her face to face with their surprising openness and desire for permanent psychological and social change; the meetings raised serious, penetrating questions in Phillips' mind about the possibility of living a life of inner peace and harmony within the dank rot of the prison environment, and -- more significantly -- the possibility of permanent freedom from rage, violence, and the continued criminal activity to which those phenomena can lead. Deeply inspired, she returned to Massachusetts, contacted the Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburne Falls, and -- following a year of discussion between that facility and Donaldson -- prompted a 10-day meditation retreat for 36 of the penitentiary inmates. The Stein/Kukura/Phillips film juxtaposes footage from news accounts relaying the convicts' original crimes, alongside candid pre-retreat interviews in which the men look ahead and pontificate on the process and results of deep introspection, expressing their most deep-seated hopes, fears, and concerns. It also depicts the incredible process whereby the prison gymnasium was transformed into a Buddhist monastery, observes the day-to-day experiences of the retreat itself, and follows everything up with interview footage and correspondence demonstratives of the fundamental spiritual and moral changes that took place within the former criminals. In so doing, it sheds light on a group of societal outcasts who learned to achieve personal freedom and harmony even as their geographic and social liberties are severely restricted. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
A sort of cross between The Shawshank Redemption and an episode of MSNBC's Lockup, the intriguing documentary The Dhamma Brothers makes a cogent case for prisoner rehabilitation over, as one inmate here bluntly puts it, being 'warehoused till you die'.
There's one image you're likely to take away from this mind-boggling documentary. It's of rows and rows of men dressed completely in white and seated cross-legged on royal blue mats.
A remarkable documentary about inmates at an Alabama prison who do a 10-day silent meditation retreat which opens them to the experience of inner peace and compassion.
The film, which focuses primarily on four individuals, is unusually effective at finding the humanity inside men usually reviled as monsters -- not least by themselves.
The film presents an intimate, compassionate and sympathetic portrait of a group of individuals that much of society has written off as savage and brutal and who reconnect to their humanity through the act of meditation.
"The Dhamma Brothers" is an insightful documentary about an intense ten day course on Vipassana meditation taught at the Donaldson Correctional Facility(which is infamous for its level of violence) in Alabama in 2002. The inmates were kept apart for the ten days, forced to adhere to a rigid schedule and were not
allowed to talk to each other.(The instructors spent all 10 days in the prison, mostly with the prisoners, many of whom were in jail for violent offenses.) This meditation technique may look easy but it was not. The hard part was not on the physical side, but on the mental side as the inmates were forced to examine their lives and how they got to this place in their lives.(In a world overflowing with cell phones and iPods, we do not do this often enough.) Time will tell if this has any lasting effect. The film spends too much time on the admittedly odd juxtaposition of the Bible Belt and Buddhism, relying too much on generalizations. What is definitely more interesting are the concepts of law and order. Shouldn't rehabilitation be more important in a prison than simply punishing the inmates?
No quotes approved yet for The Dhamma Brothers. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'The Dhamma Brothers'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
