21 January 2009
Harlem Interview Deleted Scenes
Posted by admin under: media .
I recently participated in an interview with the makers of 759: Boy Scouts of Harlem. Justin Szlasa and Jake Boritt were very nice to answer most of the questions I posed. Being that Harlem is associated as an historical black neighborhood I put forward a number of questions about race most of which went unanswered. If you’ve read the interview you’ll see that the film has pretty much nothing to do with race. It’s about Boy Scouts and the story of Troop 759, pretty much exactly as the title says.
Below are a couple of answers that I didn’t include in the original interview because, as the answers show, the questions weren’t really relevant to the reason the movie was made. What they do show me is that the directors are aware of the perceptions some people have, but 759 is about a troop, not an overarching social cause.
Here are questions and answers I deleted from the final interview post.
There seem to be some interesting stories that might be explored in the film. Scoutmaster Okpoti Sowah is an immigrant and leads America’s oldest traditional youth program. Is that a story about the melting pot of America, the ability of immigrants to choose their paths in the U.S., a love of tradition, or is that juxtaposition not a factor in the film?
JUSTIN: Our nation is filled with immigrants who come here and do great things–whether it is Mr. Sowah the Scout Leader from Ghana or Jake’s dad, a Lincoln scholar who fled Hungary. Diversity, immigration and striving for a better life are just part of what America is all about.
Statistics regarding young African-American males are grim. Does the film confront the issues of joblessness or crime and how the Boy Scouts of America is related to answering those problems?
JAKE: Yes statistics are for black males are grim ….the best a black male can hope to achieve is to be President of the United States (and become honorary head of the BSA). It is well documented the negative aspects of black teens and men. At first we thought this film will deal more directly with the issues facing inner city youth – crime, drugs, gangs etc. However we realized that for the individuals we were filming this wasn’t especially true of their lives. Early in the film we even made some attempts to insert the stereotypical narrative of ferocious obstacles facing black teens. It did not ring true. The kids we were making the film about were good kids with strong families .
At one point I insisted on inserting a segment of a recent news story that happened in Harlem in which 8 kids were shot in a gunfight in broad daylight on the streets of Harlem on Memorial Day weekend. The youngest victim was 13 years old – around the same age as our subjects. But this scene did not ring true to our characters – and truth is an essential element in a documentary. Sure, a disproportionate number of black teens are killed, drop out of school, deal drugs etc. but certainly not all – in fact not most – and that is something that is easy to forget. And by far most the images you see of young black men in the media are kids in trouble. This film is not meant to be a heavy hitting hard nosed investigation of the evils lurking in a black teen’s life. Rather it is kind, gentle portrait of a group of wonderful kids.
There you go. If you’re looking for a gritty, black-young-men-against-the-world movie, this isn’t it. This is about boys experiencing the wonderful program of Boy Scouts. While the movie notes hint at some slight social commentary it is clearly not the intention of the directors to put the BSA in that debate. If you walk into the film hoping to find out what the Boy Scouts of America is and how it is relevant in the 21st century, you’re in the right place. And how funny was Jake’s answer especially on the day after the inauguration of Barack Obama? That’s why he’s got the super-duper documentary camera and I’m making flip-book cartoons on my notepad (which is only a real problem during budget meetings – now they know you’re not paying attention). I should have realized I was on the wrong track as soon as I felt the need to use the word juxtaposition.
Remember to check out http://harlemscouts.com/ to get e-mail news and see the movie trailer.
- ScoutingNews Harlem Interview
- More ScoutingNews Harlem Interview
- Harlem Boy Scouts Movie
- Harlem Movie Premier
- But Will He Be President of the BSA?
One Comment so far...
Interview with the Co-Directors of 759: Boy Scouts of Harlem (Part 2) | Scouting News Says:
22 January 2009 at 1:02 pm.
[...] out Harlem Interview Deleted Scenes over on Joshua’s website to read his commentary on conducting the interview, some additional [...]
