Girlhood

This documentary follows two teenage girls at a Maryland juvenile detention center over a three-year period. Directed by Liz Garbus, the film consists of intimate interviews with the girls and a look at their daily lives inside. It also shows the counseling sessions that the girls undergo, as they discuss their crimes and try to understand themselves. While the film is stunning in its simplicity, the issues it introduces are mind-boggling in their complexity, leading viewers to ask themselves what drives children to violence. Megan and Shanae, whose personalities and attitudes about the crimes they committed could not be more different, are the focus of the film. Megan ran away from a string of foster homes before lashing out at another child with a box cutter and being placed in detention. She says she wants to be with her mother, a neglectful drug addict. Using laughter as a release for her nervousness and frustration, Megan appears on the surface to be happy. But as the film tracks her progress, both inside the center and out, her dark side comes through. Shanae stabbed a girl to death. At first she has no conscience about the crime and does not even understand what she is supposed to feel. Perhaps having been gang raped and never telling anybody contributes to her confusion. But as she works with counselors and receives love from her parents, she slowly changes, finding hope and happiness.

Cast:

"...A bare-bones affair, as spare as the juvenile institution in which it was filmed....The film leaves us with a final mystery about human development..." -- Stephen Holden , (New York Times)

"Garbus' documentary compellingly personalizes the statistics of juvenile crime....GIRLHOOD is both engrossing and suspenseful." -- Ed Scheid , (Box Office)

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