Art as the great escape — why the prison drama Sing Sing is a must see

There have been many films set in prison. Some with great performances. But there's never been a film like Sing Sing. 

The story revolves around the two Divines. 

John (Divine G) Whitfield is a prisoner at the maximum-security prison Sing Sing. Convicted of a crime he didn't commit, he pours himself into writing and activism. He's a jailhouse lawyer, an author and a founding member of the prisoner-led theatre company RTA, Rehabilitation Through the Arts.

Then there's Divine Eye, otherwise known as Clarence Maclin. He's a wolf who prowls the prison yard fleecing the weak, and yet, some RTA members see potential hiding under the hustler's bravado.  

The kindly jailhouse veteran and the intimidating thug may seem like shopworn characters, but what elevates Sing Sing is the veracity of the actors. Combined with the actuality of the setting (a decommissioned jailhouse, down the river from the actual Sing Sing), the result is nothing less than a testament to the transformational power of art.

Sing Sing comes from the filmmaking team of Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley. 

I first discovered their work with 2022's Jockey, a film with dirt under its fingernails set in the world of horse riders and trainers. While Jockey was anchored by the heartfelt performance of character actor Clifton Collins Jr., many of the other actors on the screen were real-life jockeys.  

With Sing Sing, Kewdar and his filmmaking partner and co-writer Clint Bentley doubled down on the idea of inviting a community into the filmmaking process by casting ex-prisoners, actual alumni of the very real RTA program.

When you see the prisoners sitting in a circle warming up, Sean (Dino) Johnson, Cornell (Nate) Alston, Camillo (Carmine) LoVacco and David (Dap) Giraudy are essentially playing versions of themselves. 

In fact, RTA is one of a number of prisoner-led theatre companies. 

In Canada Shakespeare in the Ruins runs workshops at Stony Mountain prison outside of Winnipeg. There's also Victoria's William Head on Stage, Canada's longest running prison theatre company.

B.C. actor Patrick Keating has performed at William Head, where he has also worked as a facilitator. 

Speaking to CBC News, he explained how he caught the acting bug when was serving a sentence for robbery in Matsqui Penitentiary in Abbotsford, B.C. 

"When you're inside [prison] there's a lot of masks that you wear, there's definite armour that you put on, this allows you to drop that and to be something else."