Rubble Kings

Shan Nicholson's documentary is about how the gang wars of the 1970s Bronx came to an end. In the years when the borough was burning and whole blocks stood abandoned, the streets were carved up among dozens of gangs. When Cornell Benjamin, the Ghetto Brothers' peace counselor, was killed trying to break up a fight, everyone braced for retaliation. What happened instead was a meeting on Hoe Avenue where representatives of nearly every gang sat down together and agreed to a truce. The point of the film lies in what followed. Rival neighborhoods started showing up at the same parties, the competitive energy went into dancing and records, and hip hop grew largely out of that. Nicholson builds the film from period footage and the accounts of people who lived it, with John Leguizamo narrating and Jim Carrey among the producers.