At its heart, Imperial Dreams is a film about the redemption of a man, a sprawling odyssey that keeps two feet in reality throughout the entire film. Visually, cinematographer Monika Lenczewska’s camera keeps everything in widescreen, with a majority of our focus on Bambi as he hovers in and out of scenes. Every role in the ensemble is richly lived in by the respective actor, creating an honest and nuanced depiction of everyday life in the community. Vitthal actually shoots the film at the real Imperial Courts housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles, creating a true-to-life arena for all of the film’s powerhouse performers. But as Bambi makes steps to leave Imperial Courts, the projects rope him right back in, against his will.
In co-writer/director Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Dreams, John Boyega plays Bambi, a gangster looking to put his violent past behind him. What is also apparent is that there is still hope for fundamental change, a message echoed by the film’s ensemble of progressively minded confiders, figures both left- and right-leaning. The film can be difficult to watch, but DuVernay’s grim realizations are made to be blatant. Over the course of the film, DuVernay and many activists, lawmakers, and academics unfold decade after decade of politically motivated legislation, and the lobbyists often behind these laws, that have led not only to the privatization of the American prison system but also to the staggeringly disproportionate incarceration of millions of African American men and women. But you don’t.” Ava DuVernay’s eye-opening, at times harrowing, 13th is a pivotal documentary that explores the centuries-old criminalization of disenfranchised African American communities, but by way of tracing the steps of American racism to its very roots. “If you’re in the prison business, you don’t want reform.
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