This film is a moving investigation of South Central LA from the perspective of an opportunist music director who uses his street credibility in order to penetrate black inner city life and not get shot.<br /><br />You can read the other reviews to see what the movie does well. It's aesthetically pleasing, emotionally moving (thanks to appropriate musical cues), etc. However, there are moments within this potentially progressive film that takes 100+ years of black "freedom" and flushes it down the toilet.<br /><br />Does anyone not see a problem with opening up a film portraying black clowns as community heroes? Blacks fought for decades to rid themselves of the stigma of the minstrel -- of the CLOWN. It was unsettling for me to know that while sitting in the theater I was supposed to, in the spirit of the film, be moved by these former gangster's stories -- stories of being saved from the street by clowning. I suppose history is merely repeating itself and once again, the black man can only "rize" from oppression if he takes on the role of the public fool.<br /><br />My other problem with this film occurred midway through the film during the montage of Krumping. LaChappelle interviews a Krumper named "Dragon" who states (and I'm paraphrasing) that Krumping (the "street" version of Clowning) is something that "we do because we can, because we were made to do it…we were born to do it." Immediately following the statement, "we were born to do it," LaChappelle launches into a montage sequence where he juxtaposes flashes of men and women Krumping with found footage of naked African men in face paint and loincloths (holding spears, nonetheless) engaging in tribal dance techniques quite similar to the interspersed Krumping moves. But the cuts are so fast that any isolated Krumping movement could easily be viewed as similar to the dance of the primitive African tribal members. In this moment, I literally felt sick. Is LaChappelle trying to draw the parallel between 21st Century black dancers in inner city ghettos, to primitive tribal Africans (who were probably filmed for a National Geographic special??) LaChappelle, are you saying that black men have the cross-continental genetic disposition of primitive tribal dance?? Giving LaChappelle the benefit of the doubt, I'll write this off as a careless decision. While granted, there very well may be elements of traditional African tribal dance in Krumping and Clowning, this connection needed to be further explored through either interviews or a better ethnographic investigation. As is, I merely felt second-hand embarrassed and horror at the visual connection the director actually made.<br /><br />My last complaint that I feel most people are overlooking is that this film should have moved us emotionally without the musical cues. Music that speaks for the film, instead of footage that speaks for itself, is lazy film-making. LaChappelle takes the easy way out several times in this film, and ruins many moments that would be better left silent (also, there was no need for the overdub of "Amazing Grace," either. Sometimes raw is better).<br /><br />But still, I do contend that this film is a must-see. At the very least, you'll learn something. Yet you can't leave this film without acknowledging that inner city youth need a way out. LaChappelle crosses dangerous territory in leaving us feeling like maybe, just maybe, all of these kids will be OK. And that's just not true.