Sing Sing Review
Sing Sing is a joyous experience. That might sound surprising given its prison setting, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more life-affirming film this year. That’s not to say Sing Sing romanticizes incarceration, although the conflict here is internal. In an early scene, a guard barks at prisoners as they stand in line. A more conventional film would turn this guard into a villain. If not him, perhaps an abusive cellmate or a corrupt warden. No such characters exist in Sing Sing, however. The closest we get to an antagonist figure is a no-nonsense woman on a parole board just doing her job.
While there isn’t a villain, prison is prison. Under the best circumstances, those walls can still eat away at you over time. Throughout Sing Sing, the characters wrestle with what led to their imprisonment and whether their lives will end behind bars. Even if they are released someday, will anybody on the outside be waiting for them? Questions like this cut into our protagonist, John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo). Until he has the answers, Divine G finds a safe space in the prison’s theatre program.
Domingo started his career in theatre, but he’s risen to mainstream prominence as of late with his Emmy-winning role on Euphoria and Oscar-nominated performance as Bayard Rustin. There isn’t a world where Domingo doesn’t get another Oscar nomination for playing Divine G, a wrongfully convicted performer and playwright. The real-life John Whitfield participated in Sing Sing’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. The troupe’s first original production was a time-traveling Shakespearean comedy entitled Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code. The film revolves around this play, although Sing Sing is more about what’s happening behind the scenes and beneath the surface.
Outside of Domingo, the only other big name in the cast is Oscar nominee Paul Raci as Brent Buell, who wrote Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code. The main cast otherwise primarily consists of former inmates and RTA alumni, most of whom play themselves. Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin is especially strong as a prisoner with a good heart, but feels compelled to put up a tough front. This makes him ideal for the stage. Divine G and Divine Eye take turns helping each other through their personal struggles. Friendship becomes their salvation along with theatre.
The ensemble couldn’t be more natural, which makes sense considering how close to home the material hits. As such, it could’ve been distracting having an established name like Domingo take center stage. Domingo never feels like an outsider, however. Although his genuine performance is at the film’s core, even Domingo would likely tell you that a leader is only as good as their team. It’s the comradery between all these men that makes Sing Sing something truly special.
This is not only one of the best prison dramas ever made, but one of the most heartfelt films about theatre. Sing Sing captures the sincerity usually only found in a high school or community theatre production. The people involved might not have the most experience or much to work with. Yet, you can sense everyone throwing their all into putting on a damn good show, even one that somehow mixes Hamlet and Freddy Krueger. For some of the characters in Sing Sing, theatre provides a welcome escape. For others, it saves their lives. While everyone in Sing Sing is technically acting, there’s such humanity on screen that the line between performance and life is blurred.