Lauf um dein Leben (TV Movie 2008)

Lauf um dein Leben: Directed by Charles S. Dutton. With Charles S. Dutton, Yaya DaCosta, Zulay Henao, Alessandra Ford Balazs. From Emmy-winning director and actor Charles S. Dutton, comes the true story of a guard (Dutton) at a Teen Correctional Facility– who saw the cycle of destructive choices and racial tensions between female teen offenders, and decided to do something about it. He gathered African-American, Latina, and white teens, and put together a multi-racial track team behind the bars of the detention center.

“A group of female prisoners at a US institution for young offenders get the sports-movie feel-good life turnaround when their warden picks them for the prison running team.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film, based on a true story, cannot avoid the clichés of the genre nor is it stylistically or cinematically sophisticated; but this is not its aim. Rather its message is allowed to take centre stage, that a good cause can overcome almost any personal and societal struggle. This is conveyed with growing momentum and charm as the story unfolds.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe young cast put in strong performances and their characters command respect and sympathy. We see how their difficult lives and lack of support as much as bad choices have landed them in the prison system and how patterns of destructive behaviour, peer-enforced, threaten to undermine the efforts of the wardens to turn them around.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film reminded me, in a condensed manner, of the storyline in season four of u0026#39;The Wireu0026#39; where the corner-boy delinquent children in the school are placed into a research group where they can discuss and evaluate their lives and motivations for engaging in crime under supportive supervision. Racing For Timeu0026#39;s message is similar in that it espouses a collaborative, activity-based response to juvenile offenders.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is worth mentioning also for its focus exclusively on female young offenders and exploration of their predicaments. Many of the characters have suffered at the hands of men and, though young and attractive, the actorsu0026#39; sexual appeal is not exploited in any way in this film. This makes it unusual in the context of American cinema.”