Beautiful Humans: Creative Arts Therapy on Rikers
Plot
Beautiful Humans: Creative Arts Therapy on Rikers is a poignant documentary that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of individuals detained on Rikers Island jail in New York City. The film, shot for the first time on the island, sheds light on the therapeutic benefits of dance and music therapy for those who call the island home. Director and cinematographer, Nathan Silver, navigates the often-turbulent world of corrections with sensitivity and empathy, allowing the audience to connect with the raw emotions and vulnerability of his subjects. As the camera captures the Rikers Island landscape, the harsh realities of life in a correctional facility become apparent. Despite the hardships, the documentary reveals a poignant humanity that exists beneath the surface. Traversing through the maze-like corridors and stark cell blocks, the camera follows a series of creative arts therapy sessions that blossom into a space for self-expression and healing. Within the confines of an underutilized gym, an unlikely group begins to assemble – individuals from diverse backgrounds, united by their experiences within the correctional system. They gather with anticipation and a mix of trepidation as they await their first creative arts session with RISE Arts, a pioneering organization that brings innovative therapies to underserved communities, including prisons. Among the participants is Anthony, a 24-year-old who has been incarcerated multiple times for non-violent crimes. His intensity and defiance are readily apparent at the start of the sessions, however, as he begins to engage with the creative arts therapy, his guards slowly fall away, and we begin to glimpse a broken individual grappling to connect with his own sense of humanity. Then there's Deborah, a seasoned inmate who combines gritty realism with an unyielding optimism that offers a compelling counterpoint to the bleak environment. Despite the hardships she's faced within the system, Deborah exudes a quiet dignity and resilience that acknowledges both the strength and the fragility of the human spirit. Throughout the documentary, Debbie, a former inmate and an advocate for arts programs in corrections, becomes a catalyst for deeper connection among the participants. Her experience and passion guide the sessions, allowing each individual to confront their trauma through the pure, unbridled language of creative expression. With the power of music and dance, Deborah and her peers are able to convey emotions and narratives that often find no voice elsewhere. With gentle guidance, Silver skillfully observes and interweaves the footage shot during these therapy sessions with soft, intimate remarks from participants. Their words paint an emotive brush picture of a Rikers most people would rather forget, as a space of punishment and loss, instead illuminated as a harsh yet vibrant habitat for story-telling. Through an engagement with dance, various forms of music, and the voice itself, participants make personal, cathartic connections with their own histories and the harsh conditions of life within the prison. Anthony's rhythmic focus, reflecting his own internal anguish and pride, resonates in palpable anticipation. Deborah's subtle dance emphasizes her persistent and irrevocable will and resilience. Even those whose experiences had initially rendered them distant become re-acquainted with the world, in moments captured through music, movement, and spoken words. Beautiful Humans carries a subtle, unshakable power in documenting the raw, unsullied beauty of artistic expression. Amid the imposing Rikers Island backdrop – with its steel mesh fencing, labyrinthine corridors, and omnipresent surveillance – emerges an authentic sense of artistic redemption. A cinematic testament to the healing power of creative arts therapy, Beautiful Humans testifies that the prison walls can never entirely quash the human heartbeat, no matter how muted it may grow. In a sprawling metropolis of over 8 million, with a notoriously troubled correctional system looming just off its iconic shores, stunning works of art continue to breathe with an authenticity of purpose, deep within Rikers Island. Offering a heartfelt confrontation of systemic issues while tenderly emphasizing human expression, this vivid portrait ultimately allows for hope to silently endure, even among those trapped behind bars, unapologetically reaffirming the existence of beauty within us all, at any cost.