ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Academy Awards nominations are out today, and the movie "Sing Sing" got some nods. Last week, it was rereleased in theaters across the country, which is not unusual for an Oscar contender. What is unusual is that "Sing Sing" was also made available for screenings at more than a thousand correctional facilities. The movie stars Colman Domingo, alongside a cast of real-life formerly incarcerated actors, which is poetic because it's the story of a group of incarcerated actors who work together to stage an original musical. Brittany Luse, host of NPR's It's Been A Minute, spoke with Domingo about how the film imagines new futures for Black and brown men inside and outside of lockdown. Here's part of their conversation.
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BRITTANY LUSE, BYLINE: One of the things that really stood out to me when I was watching the film was that I felt like it showed examples of healthy masculinity. And it felt revelatory, but it also felt accessible. It didn't feel sentimental.
COLMAN DOMINGO: Yeah.
LUSE: They're vulnerable with each other.
DOMINGO: They also have conflict.
LUSE: Yeah, like people do (laughter).
DOMINGO: Exactly.
LUSE: Like anybody does when they're in close quarters together. Yeah.
DOMINGO: Yeah. And I feel like that's - anyone who knows how to build anything, especially something artistic together, know that you've got to leave something behind in order to gain something that's more communal.
LUSE: When you say, leave something behind, you mean like ego, like...
DOMINGO: Ego, a way of being that may not be useful for the group, you know, just, like, bringing in your life experience where you're like, OK, you know, anytime, you know, I do anything in the theater, like, remember, leave that stuff on the outside.
LUSE: The other thing that I noticed too is the film - it reminded me how masculinity is not necessarily always inherently defined but enforced. And the way that the men in the film communicated with each other enforced vulnerability as a value and did not enforce that those things made you weak or less than or deserved social punishment.
DOMINGO: That - what you just said there was the light bulb for all of us as we were exploring making this film. These men are saying that this is part of our survival, to have all of these feelings, to have all this softness and tenderness. And it has nothing to do with sexuality whatsoever. It's more about mental health. It's about being good and kind to yourself and acknowledging your feelings and acknowledging your heartache, acknowledging your trauma, acknowledging what you feel - you know what I mean? - which feels like a new idea for...
LUSE: (Laughter).
DOMINGO: ...Black and brown men...
LUSE: Yeah.
DOMINGO: ...Or people who witness Black and brown men. And also, the thing that I love the most is that they're holding each other accountable to actually do it...
LUSE: Yes.
DOMINGO: ...To be in process...
LUSE: Yes.
DOMINGO: ...To say it's OK to feel that stuff - for you to be your brother's keeper in a way, and say no, no, no, it's OK. Go there.
LUSE: Absolutely.
DOMINGO: We got you, brother, you know?
LUSE: Yeah, no. And everybody works as a group to call people in or reach out when somebody seems like they're really struggling with something. It's, like, intuitive. Well, I would say it's intuitive, but it's a practice.
DOMINGO: Yeah.
LUSE: The other thing that I came away from the film with was how prison robs people of the time and opportunity to find and enjoy things that they love. So much of the film was watching so many of these men bloom as artists, like...
DOMINGO: Yeah.
LUSE: ...Before your eyes. It made me think about the loss to the arts - really to humanity - by not everybody getting the same kind of time and opportunity to actually enjoy participating and creating, right?
DOMINGO: The film is not trying to - in any way shape or form, we're not being political. We're not calling out anything about the - truly - about the prison industrial complex. But what do we want our society to look like? What tools do we want to give folks?
I remember when I first started out, I was touring around to junior high schools and high schools performing. And I would note that arts programs were severely cut. The first things to go - art. I thought, why is that? Well, I grew up with arts programs. Why is that? I mean, you cut off the art, you cut off the soul. You cut off people understanding how to be human with each other. You cut that out of schools, there's - I feel like there's a path to the prison industrial complex.
Art is not frivolous. Art connects us, and we need it in our society. We need it in our schools. You know, a lot of these men who went through this program, they say, you know, if I had something like this growing up, I probably would never have been here. I would have another way to get out what was inside of me.
LUSE: I love that reflection. That's wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Colman.
DOMINGO: Thank you.
LUSE: We really appreciate you taking the time.
DOMINGO: Thank you, Brittany.
SHAPIRO: That was NPR's Brittany Luse speaking with Colman Domingo. His film "Sing Sing" is now streaming in prisons across the country. And you can hear more of their conversation on NPR's It's Been A Minute podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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