Bastards of the Party (2005)
Surrounded by death and the brutal lifestyle that feeds it, a Los Angeles gangbanger explores the history of Southern California street gangs from the 1950s through the 1990s in an attempt to fully understand his existence. Bastards of the Party humanizes the staggering casualties of the LA gang wars.
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People are voting emotionally.
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
I really wanted to like this movie and I like Cle Bone Stone a lot. But the movie tended to present something as fact, then drop it, and move on to something else. I'm not naive to gangs: I work with gangs: the bloods, the crips, and a local NYC gang "LB". I really liked Cle and I'm hoping that one day he'll be courageous enough to do an autobiography of himself. That would, no doubt, be an outstanding movie and an Oscar winner. Bastards of the Party is a fine movie.. It's just that I thought it could have been an exceptional movie.However, I applaud Cle Bone Stone for his work on this excellent documentary.
Bastards of the Party is a new documentary running on HBO that examines the rise of gangs in the Los Angeles area. It starts out a little slow and seems to be making excuses for the members - the same tired ones you have heard over and over - but it quickly turns into a fascinating historical piece.From the early days when Compton was an all-white area, through the civil rights movement and rise of the US Party and Black Panther Party - it is compelling stuff. The real eye-opening stuff involves the actual demise of the BPP and USP orchestrated by Hoover's FBI. The information about the FBI's CoIntelPro and their efforts to undermine these groups is now public record, what surprised me was the details about how the program started these groups fighting each other.The legacy of the FBI's destruction of the black cohesiveness still survives with the black-on-black crime that is still rampant between these gangs nearly 40 years later. The only downside of the film other than the apologetic start is the left-wing politico-speak that summarizes the film. It is a good history that does an excellent job of giving the facts, when it slips into this type of preaching, it loses a lot of credibility.The final point about gang names versus given names is especially poignant. Good stuff.
After viewing the movie, it took me back because I know quite a few of the people in the movie, as well the director. When I went to see the movie, I did not think that I would be receiving a history about gangs. The history is what made the movie quite interesting. When we went outside after viewing the movie, I told Bone, "The youngsters really need to see this movie so that they can see they are doing to their generation." As I am a "bastard" of a civil rights activist, she always says, "Your generation just kills and fights for no cause." Now, I can really understand what the meaning behind her phrase pertains to. The following day after I viewed the movie, I went home and told my mom about it and that she may be interested in the movie. At that particular time, she did not know anything about the movie, but after she went the African Market Place, she came home and new all about the movie as some of her old activist friends told her about it. Now, she is ready to see it, along with a group of her friends.I am very proud of Bone and his accomplishments. It takes a strong person to want to change themselves after believing certain things for so many years.
Of all the films I saw at the Hollywood Black Film Festival here in Los Angeles 2006 The Documentary I watched by Director Cle "Bone" Sloan was thee best and MOST relevant. In spite of what he thought; Cle was an eloquent, passionate and articulate speaker in re: to his craft as a filmmaker as well as a "member" - the twist i found responsible and refreshing; was that his intent is not to leave his brothers behind just because he found the light, rather he was trying to figure out away to organize and unite the Bloods and Crips in a organized and purposeful way. By starting at the beginning, Documenting the genesis of why the gangs started in the first place.Cle'Slone is more than just an excellent filmmaker - he has the tools, passion, heart and drive to make a really big dent in the history of our culture as a Leader.~sylvia v. hillman~ ~writer~