Movie review. What is the film about? Social Sciences

Movie Review
Name
Institution
Movie Review
The Interrupters
What is the film about? What are the key social issues it is addressing in relation to conflict?
The film The Interrupters was directed by Steve James and released in 2011. The film is about wrong decisions, addiction, gangs, recovery, and redemption from former dark paths and lives. The name of the film is significant in that it represents a group of people who have given their lives to a dangerous cause of being mediators with their goal being to encourage a ceasefire. Their message is quite clear because it seeks to remind those involved that they matter and that their lives are worth something. They also encourage those who are deep in addiction to stop. The main reason why their message is effective is because they were once living the life some of the victims are and can directly relate to the challenges that come with that life.
The film handles several social issues which are always at the center of many communities in the world. The issues include drug addiction and gang violence. While watching the film, conflicts which arise as a result of the above issues often have ripple effects and lead to death, incapacitation, broken families, irresponsibility, etc. These effects, for example, broken families will also result in other issues which take back the community back to the same problems by creating an endless loop. The interrupters, however, are here to remind the community that actions have consequences and that everyone matters and deserves a better life than the one that is immediate to them.
What are the major interpersonal, intergroup, intrapsychic, and intragroup conflicts presented in the film?
Coleman, Deutsch, and Marcus write that interpersonal conflict “involves complex, mixed-motive situations, in which the relationship between one’s own set of goals, and another’s are simultaneously positively interdependent and negatively interdependent.” In the film, a good example of interpersonal conflict is between the Oliver brothers who do love each other and would protect each other but still cannot live with each other because they belong to different gangs.
Conflict between two groups can be said to be the main conflict depicted in the film. The fights between the gangs represent the main example of intergroup conflict. Revenge is the norm in the community, and when one gang attacks another, a fight to the death always ensues.
Intrapsychic conflict is best seen or represented in the lives of the Olive brothers. Both brothers love each other, and when asked if they would protect the other against their gangs, they both answered in the affirmative. Even though they do hate each other, as they are supposed to by virtue of being members of different gangs, they are family, and this seems to influence their actions.
Finally, intragroup conflict is also clearly exhibited in the film, and like intrapsychic, it is also through the lives of the Olive brothers. Well, even though the two are family, they belong to different gangs, and this means that they are supposed to hate each other. The two cannot live together and are always threatening each other.
What roles do inequality, power, culture, bias, and competition play in defining these conflicts?
Inequality does play a role in the conflicts. First of all, from the film, a majority of the young men and women seen in the streets seem idle and lack something to do. When they lack something to do, and with some like Caprysha Anderson being the providers of their families, many resort to drug peddling and dealing. Poverty which comes as a result of inequality does indeed play a role in exacerbating the conflicts.
Power does play a role in defining the conflicts as well. From the film, the young people in gangs are seen as the powerful ones and are envied by the young boys and girls in the community. As stated by Eddie Bocanegra in one instance in the film, it is the envy of this kind of people that got him into the gang because they were seen as powerful. However, the ones are seen as inferior always retaliate as they try to steal this power back and this only aggravates the situation.
Competition between the gangs as each tries to show that they are the most powerful or they control the biggest part of the community is also another issue that defines the conflicts. The gangs are always trying to belittle each other, expand their drug businesses, and assume power and control in the community. Such goals followed by the aggressive resistance from the other gangs always resorts into war and bloodshed.
Finally, culture and bias are two concepts which also seem to define the conflicts in different ways. One thing that stands out in the film is the loyalty the young men and women have to their cause and their other gang members. Whether their friends were wrong or were involved in criminal activities, the enemy is always a rival gang member. This kind of thinking has made it impossible for the gang activities and the killings to stop. When it comes to culture, the young people seem to believe that they are embracing and ensuring the continuity of something in the community. For example, in a scene where Cobe Williams was talking to two young men, they seemed certain that they were doing the right thing and one of them even said that they are doing the same thing that Cobe did before. The belief that this culture has to be upheld and its continuity ensured has brainwashed the minds of the young people and led to more conflicts in the community.
What strategies are used to resolve the conflicts presented in the films: persuasion, empathy, aggression, trust development, communication, the legal system, etc.?
Persuasion – Ameena Mathews (a character in the film), as well as Cobe Williams (a character in the film), are seen in several instances trying to persuade the young men from killing each other and having conversations with them. For example, Cobe Williams went to the extent of looking for Kenneth Oliver and Bud Oliver and persuaded to have a conversation with each other and their mother who had all but given up on them.
Mediation – to resolve the conflicts shown the film, the Interrupters made us...