Rating: 
Summary: Wow
Review: This is a powerful and moving documentary about a college student who served as a Big Brother to a troubled youth, then returned years later to make a film and really get to know him. During the filming, Stevie (the troubled youth and focus of the film) is charged with a serious crime and the film takes us through the effects of this, on Stevie, his family and friends, and on the director. By introducing viewers to the characters in Stevie's life, the movie presents an amazing portrait of growing up poor and the constraints of average life in low-income rural America. It also demonstrates the detrimental impact that can be had on young lives when individuals within a community fail to love and commit to children. It makes viewers question the influence of heridity, upbringing, and individual choice in the formation of one's life journey. Most importantly, it shows the complete character of a person that outsiders might label a monster, and forces viewers to hesitate before making judgments. At two hours 25 minutes, the movie runs long at times and could have used a little more editing. Overall, it's a powerful and important film, well worth viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: This is a powerful and moving documentary about a college student who served as a Big Brother to a troubled youth, then returned years later to make a film and really get to know him. During the filming, Stevie (the troubled youth and focus of the film) is charged with a serious crime and the film takes us through the effects of this, on Stevie, his family and friends, and on the director. By introducing viewers to the characters in Stevie's life, the movie presents an amazing portrait of growing up poor and the constraints of average life in low-income rural America. It also demonstrates the detrimental impact that can be had on young lives when individuals within a community fail to love and commit to children. It makes viewers question the influence of heridity, upbringing, and individual choice in the formation of one's life journey. Most importantly, it shows the complete character of a person that outsiders might label a monster, and forces viewers to hesitate before making judgments. At two hours 25 minutes, the movie runs long at times and could have used a little more editing. Overall, it's a powerful and important film, well worth viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing but informative
Review: This is a sad but ultimately informative look at how poor, rural America produces men like Stevie. Stevie is in his late twenties, and was abused and left in a series of foster homes as a child. Despite having director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) as a Big Brother and having one set of caring foster parents, Stevie is arrested and eventually found guilty of molesting his eight year old niece. The documentary details Stevie's attempt (or non attempt) to deal with his arrest and its consequences. Whether through a difficult upbringing, a series of unfortunate happenings, or a rural and simplistic mindset, Stevie's life is a mess and one wonders how someone could have gotten this far off track. Depressing documentary, but in the end it makes one think about how circumstance can profoundly alter a person's life.
Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Journey
Review: This past weekend, I "discovered" Stevie, a documentary that was in theaters earlier this year. Crafted by Steve James -- the documentary filmmaker behind "Hoop Dreams" -- it relates what happens when he returns to southern Illinois to find Stevie Fielding, a troubled 11 year old to whom he had been a Big Brother while in college but had since lost touch with upon his relocation to Chicago.While overly long (coming in at just under 2 1/2 hours) and sometimes biting off more than it can chew -- an examination of the virulent, and still prevalent, racism in this country's rural white enclaves is worthy of a film in itself -- it is, for the most part, an enthralling but ultimately heartbreaking account of a lost soul who -- despite the efforts of some very well-meaning people -- has been allowed to slip through the cracks. It's a film that that never tries to sweep away the sometimes devastating consequences of Stevie's behavior but, rather, seeks to understand how that anti-social behavior was created in the first place. So, if you're in the mood for something different, give Stevie a try. But be prepared for what you're getting into. I -- for one -- am not ashamed to say that I wept openly at times both for the needless "loss" of a little boy and at the astounding compassion that -- as this documentary shows -- some human beings are capable of.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing true story shows results of a troubled childhood
Review: When I heard about this 2002 documentary by Steve James, the director who brought us "Hoop Dreams", I just had to see it. "Stevie" is a disturbing look at a tortured life of a blue-eyed blond child who had a rotten childhood and grew up to become an abuser himself. When the director was in college, he was a "big brother" to the little boy but later moved away. After ten years, he returned to meet up with Stevie, now an in his twenties. Stevie had been in every foster home in Southern Illinois and got in trouble in all of them. When we meet him, he is living with his step-grandmother, hates his mother, has had a short abusive marriage, has never held a steady job, and has a mentally retarded girlfriend. The film follows this troubled young man for 4-1/2 years and the director cannot help but take a good hard look at his own role in the film he is making. Right in front of us we see the result of years of neglect and abuse of the boy, now a man. He's angry, abuses alcohol and is sometimes violent. The setting is rural Illinois, a place of trailer camps, fundamentalist churches, fishing creeks, white supremacist culture, pickup trucks and unemployment. With the exception of Stevie's half-sister, who has a happy marriage and eventually has a baby, most of the people are sad and angry. It is not a pretty place to live. The film is 145 minutes long but it never lags. I was completely caught up in Stevie's life, my feelings ranging from pity to anger as it gradually became quite clear that Stevie's character was set for life and that there would be little, if any change. When he is charged with a crime, we see him fighting the justice system. Eventually, he loses. This is not surprising. If this were fiction, there would be some sort of contrived ending. But this is a documentary and all it does is tell the truth. I loved this fine film. It's full of honesty and courage. And I applaud the filmmaker for making it. I highly recommended it. But be prepared to plunge into Stevie's troubled world.
Rating:
Summary: RIVETING
Review: wow.....i am a true docuholic and this one is the best...next to "capturing the freidmans". this one sticks with you for a while. stevie's girlfriend is the most spritiualy right on girl i have ever seen. to get a full grasp on this flick...you must watch the audio commentary (where we are promised a lollipop)to fully understand the compassion that the crew and mr. james put into this piece of work.
jack e. jett
the jack e. jett show
Rating:
Summary: RIVETING
Review: wow.....i am a true docuholic and this one is the best...next to "capturing the freidmans". this one sticks with you for a while. stevie's girlfriend is the most spritiualy right on girl i have ever seen. to get a full grasp on this flick...you must watch the audio commentary (where we are promised a lollipop)to fully understand the compassion that the crew and mr. james put into this piece of work.
jack e. jett
the jack e. jett show
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