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Forest Whitaker, Jim Brown, Tom Hayden, Todd Boyd, Gerard Horne ... see more see more... , Skipp , Kumasi , Shaka , Bird , Ron Wilkins , Terry Goudeau , Gee Active , James , Big Girch , Nikko De , James Harris , Bo Taylor , Minister Tony Muhammad , Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson , Josh Sides , Leon Bing , James Gilligan , Vicky Lindsay

Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, Dogtown and Z-Boys director Stacy Peralta's unflinching documentary chronicles one of the longest-running civil wars in the history of America ... read more read more...though a deeply humanistic lens. The Bloods and Crips are two of South Los Angeles' most notorious African-American gangs. While many outsiders simply cannot understand the decades-long cycle of despair and destruction that has come to define their daily lives, the individuals who comprise each gang are not simply mindless, gun-toting thugs, but real people with real families who have become caught up in a struggle from which the only escape is often death. Beginning with an illuminating look at the genesis of L.A.'s gang culture, Crips and Bloods: Made in America follows the bloody feud that would stretch on for a grueling four decades, revealing the turf wars, hierarchy, family structure, gun culture, and stringent rules through interviews with gangsters past and present, as well as experts, activists, and academics. Throughout the film, the numerous issues blanketing the streets of South L.A. with a deep sense of dread are reflected upon by gang intervention experts, former gang members, writers, and academics in an effort to examine the erosion of identity that helps to perpetrate black self-hatred, prison culture, and the disappearance of the black father in the home. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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68% liked it

1,234 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

20 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Stacy Peralta

Release Date: January 20, 2008

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DVD Release Date: May 26, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (169)

  • Dracula787
    August 27, 2009
    Dracula787
    Perhaps the most important functions that a documentary can serve today is to step in when the mainstream media has failed. On issue that the media has most definitely failed in this world of national security, foreign wars, and widespread policy debates are the problems plaguin... read moreg the inner city. It was indeed refreshing to see a documentary that deals with these issues that people seem to have forgotten about since the early 90s. In principle I find the documentary?s message that the Crips and Bloods emerged because of the way society silenced any mainstream form of black empowerment. Unfortunately there were aspects of execution that held this film back from achieving its full potential. The film starts strong, painting a strong picture of what it was like to be a black man in 60s Las Angeles, then shortly after its vivid depiction of the Watts riots it suddenly flashes forward to the present and begins playing a ton of interviews with gang members. These are interesting interviews, but they are simply played at random and feel like an interruption of the film?s narrative. It feels like they had a lot of good footage that they insisted on shoehorning in. The film eventually recovers, but never regains its momentum. This was a fairly good watch but it could have been a whole lot better.
  • cacutshaw
    May 20, 2009
    cacutshaw
    What starts out as a great doc eventually becomes a potential TV special. The doc starts out strong, explaining the beginnings of gang mentality and how oppression brought about the need for disenfranchised youths to band together. Then sadly, it just breezes over the formation... read more of the Crips and Bloods, and what made them what they are.
    Lots of interviews with gang members, some who have left the gangs to start community organizations, but it feels more like a anti-gang promo than a real documentary.
    After enjoying fictional shows like The Shield and Southland I am really curious to have a real look at South L.A. Unfortunately I don't think this is it.
  • kcddck
    July 17, 2009
    kcddck
    A pretty well worth documentary that brings social awareness and a history that goes back to the Watts riots and further.

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Critic Reviews

Wesley Morris
April 23, 2009
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Crips and Bloods hasn't been made out of moral anger or a sense of conspiracy. As matters of journalism, sociology, and humanitarianism, the movie is incurious at best. At worst, it's a recruitment vi... Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
April 3, 2009
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Peralta is a compassionate filmmaker. Full Review

Peter Hartlaub
February 20, 2009
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Deals almost entirely in known facts, but it's still a revelatory film. Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
January 23, 2009
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

The movie feels less like a traditional documentary than an educational video. But it works the way he wants it to: you'll walk out feeling both enlightened and dismayed. Full Review

Manohla Dargis
January 23, 2009
Manohla Dargis, New York Times

With Crips and Bloods: Made in America, the director Stacy Peralta manages to put a human face on a subject that tends to inspire inflamed debate. Full Review

Ernest Hardy
January 21, 2009
Ernest Hardy, Village Voice

It's a lot to take in, and Peralta does an admirable job cramming tons of history and insight into his reportage on how the 'hood came to be. Full Review

Justin Lowe
March 10, 2008
Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter

Although the film's strength is clearly its definitive point of view, this perspective sometimes comes at the expense of a more rigorously objective treatment.

Robert Koehler
January 30, 2008
Robert Koehler, Variety

A doc with the thrust of entertainment, but the content of a thoughtfully researched book. Full Review

Jennifer Merin
May 27, 2009
Jennifer Merin, About.com

Stacy Peralta's insider glimpse at the lives of LA gangs is a genuine shocker. Full Review

Stan Hall
March 13, 2009
Stan Hall, Oregonian

The film works best as a history lesson of the L.A. black experience, arguing that economic neglect, institutional racism and covert government operations fueled the 1965 and 1992 riots and created th... Full Review

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