The Work Movie Review | Teen Ink

The Work Movie Review

January 26, 2022
By leoo BRONZE, Sacramento, California
leoo BRONZE, Sacramento, California
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

If you think male convicts and male citizens were very different mentally, then you’d be wrong. 3 men go to prison to participate in a group therapy program in a prison located in California. The men express their feelings in a community circle and let the inmates know things that haunt them from their past. The citizens' names are Charles, Chris, and Brian. The 3 of them hesitantly explain what haunts them but eventually open up about it. The inmates then try to simulate the moment that haunts the 3 citizens which causes them to break down. The citizens get back into a community circle with the inmates and thank them for helping conquer their inner demons. The inmates leave the prison as new men and with something to prove.


The documentary is very heavy and emotional even if you don’t relate to anything. The film is real and raw and that’s what I like about it. There was no music or anything, just words. It shows that men keep things that heavily bother them bottled up inside them. When people say “Men should be tough and shouldn’t be emotional”, I think they should be shown this documentary. It genuinely made me feel happy especially on the fourth day when I saw the inmates cheering the men on for allowing them to know more about their dark past and it showed me that even people who do the most horrendous things have hearts. 


The Work isn’t rated but it should be rated PG-13, as children wouldn’t understand and the movie is a bit disturbing. I think it should be shown to teenagers, especially males, to teach them that it’s ok to be emotional. I think this is a documentary everyone 13 and above should watch, it’s the best documentary I’ve ever seen. 


The author's comments:

The Work was definitely the best documentary I've ever watched. I think we should normalize men being emotional. The documentary even shows that prisoners, people who have comitted minor / horrific crimes have hearts too.


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