The Interrupters

Steve James's documentary follows three people trying to stop violence in Chicago: Ameena Matthews, Cobe Williams and Eddie Bocanegra. All three work for a programme called CeaseFire, and all three were previously part of that violence on the street. Their job is to get between people before a fight escalates. Ameena Matthews's story is at the centre. Her father, Jeff Fort, is one of the most notorious gang leaders in the city; she herself worked as an enforcer for a drug operation. Having children and her faith took her off the street, and now she is trying to talk down young people who are what she was. The film came out of an eight-thousand-word piece Alex Kotlowitz published in the New York Times; Kotlowitz is also a producer. James followed the three for a year, from the summer of 2009 to the spring of 2010, and put the camera in the middle of the interventions. Who it is for: viewers interested in violence in American cities and in community-based intervention work. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a detached account, since this was shot on the street, inside the events.