Two films reflect on Boston street violence

Toussaint Losier

Though recent reports would seem to suggest a decline in shootings in Boston’s high crime neighborhoods in the past few months, a pair of films featured at this year’s Roxbury Film Festival showed just how heavily gun violence still weighs on the minds of local residents.

Screened earlier this month, “Bullet Full of Knowledge” and “Shots in the Hood” are two films by local filmmakers focusing on the issues of young people and gun violence.

“Bullet Full of Knowledge” depicts the story of Devaughn Woods, who was 14 when he was shot and paralyzed. A cautionary re-telling of Woods’ true life tale, the first half of the film details the life Woods was living the day he was shot, while the second half looks at the events of that day from a different viewpoint — the broadened perspective Woods gained following the shooting.

Driven by an old school hip-hop soundtrack, the film follows Woods’ character through his morning routine, first into the streets, and then off to school. Woods, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Jibril Haynes, provides the film with a haunting narration that slides easily from humor to pain. Woods and Haynes also have the actors perform without dialogue, creatively using T-shirts to identify particular characters as “O.G.,” “Tattletale” or “Champion.”

“The T-shirts were a fun way to approach dialogue,” said Haynes after the screening. “I’ve never made a film like this, going so bold as to not use dialogue and just have T-shirts.”

Shot on Morton and West Sheldon streets in Dorchester, the film vividly portrays topics like family life, drug addiction and teen pregnancy. “Bullet Full of Knowledge” also opens and closes with a close-up of Woods in his wheelchair, reflecting on the decisions that led him to where he is today.

After the screening, Haynes explained how he and Woods collaborated on the script, writing it in only three days. After waiting two years to get funding, they worked with Angelface Productions to shoot the film in two weeks. The filmmakers have already distributed the film in barbershops and summer festivals and hope it fits into anti-violence workshops for schools and church groups.

“I hope it makes a positive impact, because [the] 16-to-21 [age group] is an endangered species right now.” Woods told the audience after the screening. “I don’t want anyone else to catch a bullet full of knowledge, or 10 years in the pen full of knowledge.”

A Dorchester native, Haynes has worked with his partner Nicole Parker to make 22 films through their company, Origin Nile Films. This film was supported by grants from the LEF Foundation and the Color of Film Collaborative.

Where Haynes’ film uses creative techniques to tackle the topic of gun violence, “Shots in the Hood” approaches the issue head on. It is the first film by Bill Willis, a Mattapan resident and 21-year veteran of the Boston Police Department (BPD), assigned to the K-9 unit in Special Operations.

A self-financed director and producer, Willis uses his camera to interview young men about the causes of the shootings that have surged in particular neighborhoods over the past several years. Without special effects, this film puts the thoughts of young men of color at the center of the conversation.

According to BPD statistics, the number of shootings in Dorchester though July 25 dropped 30 percent compared to the same date last year. In Roxbury, shootings plunged 31 percent. In Mattapan, the numbers have declined 22 percent, from 59 shootings in 2006 to 46 this year.

Citywide, the number of shootings has fallen by nearly one-third compared with the same time last year. The number of homicides has also decreased, down 17 percent. Overall, violent crime is down by roughly 10 percent.

Yet, listening to the young people, there is a clear sense of the physical and mental scars left in the wake of gun violence.

Willis gives the camera’s full attention to young men who describe the ease of getting their hands on guns, the challenges they face from other teens carrying guns, or the day when they were shot at by an unknown assailant.

In one instance, eerily similar to Woods’ story, a young man describes his own experience of getting shot and being left paralyzed.

“I’m a statistic of teen violence,” the young man says softly to the camera, as he recounts how he bled on the ground. He then lifts his shirt to show the deep scar that runs down the middle of his chest.

Here, he explains, is where the surgeons cut to take out the bullet, and here, he points, is where his belly button has been sewed back on, much lower than it should be.

The teens in Willis’ movie touch on a range of topics, from the impact of rap music on youth violence to the use of the n-word in youth culture. In turn, Willis also interviews a handful of adults, including METCO Executive Director Jean McGuire and Tina Chéry of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute.

Rather than blaming the youth for the recent wave of violence, Teens Against Gang Violence’s Dr. Ulric Johnson argued that recent shootings demonstrate in part the failure of both older and younger people to connect in a meaningful way.

Though most of “Shots in the Hood” relies on interviews with teenagers and young men, Willis also captures several images of street corner memorials, including the Codman Square Academy’s memorial for the 75 homicides in Boston in 2005.

“I made this film to get it out to the young people,” Willis said during an audience question-and-answer period. “We are locking them up in record number and it’s not a deterrent. Most of these kids have been incarcerated, are unemployed, are unemployable, and angry.”