Stevie | |
---|---|
Directed by | Steve James |
Produced by | Steve James Adam Singer Gordon Quinn |
Music by | Dirk Powell |
Cinematography | Dana Kupper Gordon Quinn Peter Gilbert |
Edited by | Steve James, Bill Haugse |
Distributed by | Kartemquin Films |
144 min | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Stevie was the winner of numerous festival awards, including the 2002 Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival's Joris Ivens Award, given to that year's top documentary. The film was a 2003 nominee for Best Documentary at the Sundance FIlm Festival, as well as the Independent Spirit Awards. Download Hey Mambo Mambo Italiano. Steve James Documentary Stevie Update Yahoo; Windows Vista Ctrl Alt Down Arrow: Free Programs; Free Download All Songs Of Film Race 2; Sly Cooper Wiki; Puppy Has Broken Teeth; Simutech Troubleshooting Keygen Idm; Rockstar Hindi Movie Songs Free Download 123musiq.
Stevie is a 2002 film by documentarian Steve James, and Kartemquin Films.
Content[edit]
In 1995, James returned to Pomona, a rural town in Southern Illinois, USA. After 10 years with no contact, he attempts to reconnect with Stevie Fielding, a troubled young boy to whom he had been an 'Advocate Big Brother'. James's re-entry into Stevie's life is brief.
The story then picks up again about two years later after Stevie is charged with a serious crime. Through interviews with Stevie and his family and friends, James paints the portrait of a man who is still very troubled, while he tries to understand what led Stevie down the path of self-destruction.
Post-release[edit]
Stevie was the winner of numerous festival awards, including the 2002 Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival's Joris Ivens Award, given to that year's top documentary.[1] The film was a 2003 nominee for Best Documentary at the Sundance FIlm Festival, as well as the Independent Spirit Awards.[2][3]
By decade's end, Stevie was on numerous 'Best of the 2000s' list. In his list of 'Best Films of Any Genre', Ray Pride of NewCity Film, ranked Stevie at #19.[4][5][6] Critic Collin Souter of Efilmcritic.com named Stevie the best documentary of the decade.[7][failed verification]
Aftermath[edit]
Stephen Fielding was scheduled to be paroled on February 15, 2007. His original ten-year sentence was completed on October 29, 2009, and he was released from the Stateville Correctional Center.
![James James](https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/SteveJames.jpg?w=780)
References[edit]
- ^IDFA[permanent dead link] International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2002. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
- ^Sundance-Stevie. Sundance.org. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
- ^Independent Spirit Awards 2011 'Twenty-Six Years of Nominees & Winners'.Archived 2011-01-25 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
- ^'At Zeroes End: Best Films, 2000-2009'. Pride, Ray. NewCity Film.com. 21 Dec. 2009. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
- ^'More Top Ten From the Aughts.'Archived 2011-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Filmsweep.com. 24 Dec. 2009. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
- ^'Top 100 of the '00s'. Phipps, Keith. Untitled Keith Phipps Project. 28 Dec. 2009. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
- ^'Capturing the Decade: Documentaries'[permanent dead link] Souter, Collin. EFilmcritic.com. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2011.
External links[edit]
- Stevie at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
- Stephen Fielding Illinois State Offender page [1]
- Stephen Fielding Tennessee Sex Offender Page [2]
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
- Stevie on IMDb
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stevie_(2002_film)&oldid=892594383'
by Collin Souter'Brilliant. Steve James maintains responsibility as filmmaker and friend.' |
These bothersome questions did meddle their way into my mind during Steve James’ documentary “Stevie,” a movie about the filmmaker and his attempt to reunite with a troubled old friend whom he once helped many years ago through a Big Brother program. James announces at the start that the film will be about him. “Stevie” is the name of his friend, Stephen Fielding. Stevie lives in Pomona, a rural town in southern Illinois made up of run-down shacks, trailers, stray dogs and fishing creeks. Steve ('Hoop Dreams') James still lives in Chicago and travels down to Pomona in order to get an update on Stevie’s life.
“Stevie” does concentrate mostly on its titular subject, but because he shares a past with James, we truly get the sense that this story should be told and that it does not represent an ego-stroke on the part of the filmmaker. But who is this Stevie and why should we care? Stevie is a balding, gap-toothed, backwoods trailer park racist with fits of rage that pertain mostly to his mother and her horrible job of upbringing (Even though she lives just down the street from her, she left him to be raised by his step-Grandmother). He has also been to his share of foster homes and gone through his share of violent and sexual abuse. Stevie never had a chance.
The film concentrates on his life from 1995, just before he gets caught sexually molesting his own 8-year old niece, to present day. Of course, Stevie denies the incident at first, but soon writes out a confession. We learn early on that Stevie has had many run-ins with the law for various charges of assault, battery and theft. At one point, he even beat up his ex wife, an incident he has promised he will never repeat on anyone. “I get mad, I just punch a wall next time,” he says, to which his fiancé replies, “and he has, too.”
This may not sound like an endearing or engaging subject for a documentary, but something about Stevie’s personality and James’ devotion to him and his family keeps us riveted for the movie’s entire 2 ½ hour duration. James, because he failed at the Big Brother program, sees the tragedy in Stevie and wants to try and save him somehow. James feels that Stevie should be punished, but that he also possesses the insight to seek redemption. Even Stevie’s fiancé, Tonya Gregory, a nice insightful woman with a speech impediment, doesn’t want Stevie to go to jail, but also wrestles with the predicament in which he has put her. Can she marry a convicted sex offender?
Here is where “Stevie” becomes something of a challenge for the audience. How on earth do we find sympathy for a guy like Stevie? To filmmaker James, the only way would be to really get to know him. James must walk a fine line in this situation both as a friend trying to do the right thing and as a filmmaker to try and give the audience the right idea about Stevie. We sympathize for his plight. James does not have an easy answer for any of this. Of course, he knows Stevie better than we ever will, so of course he does what he can to get him help, but it is to James’ credit that we root for Stevie to somehow overcome his anger, his tendencies and, most of all, his vices.
This will not go down easy for every person who watches this film, and rightly so. “Stevie” does not try to make a case for its subject, but rather to just explain why people like him put themselves in these awful situations. Should Stevie be punished for what he did? Absolutely. Can he redeem himself? Probably not, but we have hope. Does this give every child molester some sort of pass because of a Freudian theory about traumatic childhood? No, but “Stevie” is not out to make any political or psychological statement in the first place. “Stevie” is a personal film told for personal reasons.
A good hour or so of “Stevie” plays like a real-life “25th Hour,” in which we watch a convicted man spend his last few months of freedom trying to make sense of it all while shunning those around him trying to make sense of it for him. At one point, James takes Stevie and Tonya for a tour of Chicago where Stevie is paranoid about being mugged. James’ wife, Judy, who encouraged James in the first place to participate in the Big Brother program, wants to be Stevie’s counselor, but she has a predicament as well. She can barely stand the thought of Stevie being in her house for too long because the James’ have three kids of their own.
“Stevie” sounds like a true downer, and it can be most of the time, but there does exist some genuine humor as well. It is funny to me after 2 hours of seeing lots and lots of Harley Davidson paraphernalia that we should see one of Stevie’s friends wearing a Les Miserables t-shirt. Stevie, while being a person we wouldn’t really want to spend more than 10 minutes with, starts to grow on us after a while even when we find him despicable. He has his moments of goodness and good humor. Even when cornered by one of Tonya’s old friends about Stevie’s racist attitude (He would rather die than let a black person give him mouth-to-mouth), we get the sense that he realizes he should have been raised better.
“Stevie” does concentrate mostly on its titular subject, but because he shares a past with James, we truly get the sense that this story should be told and that it does not represent an ego-stroke on the part of the filmmaker. But who is this Stevie and why should we care? Stevie is a balding, gap-toothed, backwoods trailer park racist with fits of rage that pertain mostly to his mother and her horrible job of upbringing (Even though she lives just down the street from her, she left him to be raised by his step-Grandmother). He has also been to his share of foster homes and gone through his share of violent and sexual abuse. Stevie never had a chance.
The film concentrates on his life from 1995, just before he gets caught sexually molesting his own 8-year old niece, to present day. Of course, Stevie denies the incident at first, but soon writes out a confession. We learn early on that Stevie has had many run-ins with the law for various charges of assault, battery and theft. At one point, he even beat up his ex wife, an incident he has promised he will never repeat on anyone. “I get mad, I just punch a wall next time,” he says, to which his fiancé replies, “and he has, too.”
This may not sound like an endearing or engaging subject for a documentary, but something about Stevie’s personality and James’ devotion to him and his family keeps us riveted for the movie’s entire 2 ½ hour duration. James, because he failed at the Big Brother program, sees the tragedy in Stevie and wants to try and save him somehow. James feels that Stevie should be punished, but that he also possesses the insight to seek redemption. Even Stevie’s fiancé, Tonya Gregory, a nice insightful woman with a speech impediment, doesn’t want Stevie to go to jail, but also wrestles with the predicament in which he has put her. Can she marry a convicted sex offender?
Here is where “Stevie” becomes something of a challenge for the audience. How on earth do we find sympathy for a guy like Stevie? To filmmaker James, the only way would be to really get to know him. James must walk a fine line in this situation both as a friend trying to do the right thing and as a filmmaker to try and give the audience the right idea about Stevie. We sympathize for his plight. James does not have an easy answer for any of this. Of course, he knows Stevie better than we ever will, so of course he does what he can to get him help, but it is to James’ credit that we root for Stevie to somehow overcome his anger, his tendencies and, most of all, his vices.
This will not go down easy for every person who watches this film, and rightly so. “Stevie” does not try to make a case for its subject, but rather to just explain why people like him put themselves in these awful situations. Should Stevie be punished for what he did? Absolutely. Can he redeem himself? Probably not, but we have hope. Does this give every child molester some sort of pass because of a Freudian theory about traumatic childhood? No, but “Stevie” is not out to make any political or psychological statement in the first place. “Stevie” is a personal film told for personal reasons.
A good hour or so of “Stevie” plays like a real-life “25th Hour,” in which we watch a convicted man spend his last few months of freedom trying to make sense of it all while shunning those around him trying to make sense of it for him. At one point, James takes Stevie and Tonya for a tour of Chicago where Stevie is paranoid about being mugged. James’ wife, Judy, who encouraged James in the first place to participate in the Big Brother program, wants to be Stevie’s counselor, but she has a predicament as well. She can barely stand the thought of Stevie being in her house for too long because the James’ have three kids of their own.
“Stevie” sounds like a true downer, and it can be most of the time, but there does exist some genuine humor as well. It is funny to me after 2 hours of seeing lots and lots of Harley Davidson paraphernalia that we should see one of Stevie’s friends wearing a Les Miserables t-shirt. Stevie, while being a person we wouldn’t really want to spend more than 10 minutes with, starts to grow on us after a while even when we find him despicable. He has his moments of goodness and good humor. Even when cornered by one of Tonya’s old friends about Stevie’s racist attitude (He would rather die than let a black person give him mouth-to-mouth), we get the sense that he realizes he should have been raised better.
Stevie’s friends and family cannot forgive him for what he did, but they will be there for him. Therein lies the heart of “Stevie,” a movie about a convicted sex offender that will move you to tears at the end. James does not let Stevie off the hook completely. We do leave the theater thinking of the trauma that little girl has faced and will have to live with for the rest of her life, but mainly because we see what that same kind of trauma has done to Stevie. We get the sense that the cycle will keep going, but we can only hope that she has a friend like James who can try to see through the ugliness and make the world a better place by helping. “Stevie” does beg those ethical questions to be asked, but after a while, they don’t seem to matter much.
originally posted:03/30/03 16:25:19
printer-friendly format