Black August DVD Review

George Jackson was an equal rights activist who became famous for his time in prison. At the age of 18 he was sentenced for one year to life for robbing a gas station at gunpoint, which resulted in Jackson spending the last twelve years of his life incarcerated. While in prison, George Jackson became a member of the Black Panthers and founded the Black Guerrilla Family, a Marxist prison gang not afraid to take the violent route to make their point.

On January 16, 1970, while at Soledad Prison, Jackson and two other inmates were charged with the murder of a prison guard, allegedly as retaliation for the killing of three political activists. Jackson and his fellow accused were moved to the maximum-security cellblock where they were placed in solitary confinement. The trio became known as the Soledad Brothers, which became the title of George Jackson’s final book. While in solitary confinement, Jackson studied political economy and radical theory. He also became a prolific writer. His first work to be published was Blood In My Eye. Jackson also wrote several letters to friends and family, letters that would later comprise his second book, Soledad Brothers.

On August 21, 1971, three days before the start of his murder trial, George Jackson was killed during an alleged escape attempt. During the incident, Jackson allegedly used a 9mm pistol, smuggled into the prison by his lawyer Stephen Bingham, who immediately fled the country. As a result of the riot, three prison guards and two inmates were killed.

Black August is the biographical film depicting the final year of George Jackson’s life. Centered around the Jackson’s collaboration with his editor David Dryer as they wrote Soledad Brothers, Black August accurately portrays the violent end of this well-known political activist.

Gary Dourdan, made famous for his role as Warrick Brown on the hit television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, hangs up his forensics kit and police badge to live on the other side of the law with Black August in his portrayal of George Jackson. Dourdan is charismatic and suave as the eloquent activist who was willing to turn the world on its ear for political and social equality. Gary Dourdan is excellent in his role as George Jackson, and the film’s message is historically important. Black August is made even stronger with its use of actual footage from the shootout at the Marin Country courthouse led by Jackson’s seventeen-year old brother Jonathan.

Despite its message. the film does lose some of its voice as a result of some rather hackneyed film school style filmmaking. The film, for some reason, shows Gary Dourdan shadow boxing while a voice-over reads some of George Jackson’s writing. The film, while strong in story, is also weakened by poor editing. This is exhibited in the occasional use of jump cuts that do not add anything to the story as well as a painful over use of voice over. Despite the overuse of stylized filmmaking, Black August is still a strong, historically relevant and socially important film.

Black August is presented in widescreen and in 5.1 stereo surround sound. The special features include deleted scenes.