シカゴの暴力と闘う、ザ・インターラプターズ-
　THE INTERRUPTERS! ...

*Ameena Matthews, CeaseFire Illinois' activist, was named as "Chicagoan of the Year 2011"by Chicago Tribune

Last fall, this film - about the group of "violence interrupters" on the South Side area - was being shown around on many different college campuses in Chicago - these activists are sometimes, ex-convicts by themselves but trying to prevent absurd violence on the streets..  

 They try to persuade the teenage gang members to refrain from being involved in the futile retaliatory bloodshed ..

The woman who appeared as one of the leading characters was Ameena Matthews (who works with other activists such as Cobe and Eddie) ...her way of guiding the street kids was impressive (breathtakingly!)

When Ameena first appeared, the narrator said..her father was one of the biggest gang leader in the history of Chicago... "other than Al Capone.." namely, late Jeff Fort.... - ..then several audience people around me groaned ..because we could imagine it... she already had a legendary bloodline..since before this kind of film was launched.. introducing her activity.  Also, Al Capone seems to be still, a kind of positive icon of Chicagoans now.. At least it gives them rich moment..
   But the film is about the tragedy of the youth's wrecked living environment. It also depicts the aftermath of "Fenger Highschool 's infamous, deadly beating" of Derrion Albert. It shows the boy's funeral at his home, where Ameena addressed to the participants, urging "I need everyone from the ages of thirteen to twenty-four to stand up".. and appealed them to realize their responsibility to abandon and beat the stupid violence ..as the boy's spiritless body was lying right in front of them..
...This scene comes soon after the other ..heartwrenching scene on the street of Amena's ..which is inserted in the middle of the lecture video linked on the webpage below)
 http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/63934653/Entertainment/Michael-Phillips-interviews-Ameena-Mathews-Steve-James-and-Alex-Kotlowitz

　ザ・インターラプターズ、 実録フィルムの上映が昨年秋にシカゴの各大学キャンパスをまわっていた…これは、アフリカ系地区の街角でギャング組織などの暴力の報復合戦にまきこまれる若者たちの間に割って入り、それ以上の無思慮な暴力を思い止まらせようとするviolence interrupterのグループ、"CeaseFire Ilinnois"の話…アクティビスト達自身も訪問した学校での上映会は残念ながら観れず、漸く観れたのはダウンタウンのGene Siskel Film Centerの年末の最終上映日。
　…CobeやEddieといった中心人物と共に描かれるAmeena Mathewsの父親は往年のAl Caponeと並ぶギャングリーダーだったという。元はギャングのenforcer だったという彼女も、今では暴力を食い止めるinterrupterの活動家…その若者たちに対する説得のシーンの言葉の正確さとか強さ、はんぱではない強い勇気には瞠目させられる。いくつか素晴らしいシーンがあって…観た人すべてがこれは観るべき映画だと推すのも道理に思える…
(ギャング予備軍？…の、ヤングキッズに対するAmeenaの説教シーンはこれ…）https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k4-Y2Ooe2c
The Interrupters: Ameena's Prayer Vigil 113丁目で高校生がツーバイフォー木材で殴られて死んだときのvigilの日のシーン


（Youtubeにいくつか動画がupされている）
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+interrupters+amena+mathews


http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/63934653/Entertainment/Michael-Phillips-interviews-Ameena-Mathews-Steve-James-and-Alex-Kotlowitz  Chicago Live! - "The Interrupters"

- "Ameena Matthews, a passionate, articulate, absolutely fearless and remarkable woman, she's the closest thing to a star "The Interrupters" has. The daughter of Jeff Fort, the founder of the Blackstone Rangers and a legend in Chicago gang circles, Matthews stands up for young people because no one stood for her." http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/26/entertainment/la-et-interrupters-20110826

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-20111222-chicagoans-of-the-year-pictures-004,0,6520290.photo

The Interrupters Trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1776524313/

＊It was the very last show at the Siskel film center　in Dec...swarm of adult audience were around　（kind of intellectually-looking..) I wondered if my school's students ever imagined it...

　　Since..to my surprise..when I couldn't see the film on my campus[having visited by CeaseFire activists along with the film] due to my conflict schedule...  I heard it from the teacher afterward but none of my classmates showed up there either despite the teacher's extra credit offer..
    It looked like my classmates, who were mostly suburban-white kids were not inclined to see it at all.. [although they scrambled to see Mr. Robert Kennedy Jr.'s visit on campus the other day!]
 Further.. I found: no one made a research about the city's African American neighborhoods either... when we needed to choose one of the 77 ethnic neighborhoods in the city for the field research ...except couple of students made it about Hyde Park (a privileged area..)

      ..Later when I went to rather peaceful South Side (I went to 73rd-76th St too..)  I realized..I could go there during the day time simply because I'm not a white, but the white students may have much more safety concerns for having interviews etc?.. in the neighborhood...just because of their appearance, even if they studied about the area intensively in our class...
 to my big condolence..)