The Alabama Solution

Name: The Alabama Solution
Director: Andrew Jarecki
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2025
Duration: 1 h 57 min
Cast: Raoul Poole, Robert Earl Council, Melvin Ray, Sandy Ray, Brandon Davis

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Documentary

2025
Andrew Jarecki
117 mins

Summary

In 2019, whispers from Alabama inmates spark a six-year probe into a deadly prison system, exposing hidden brutality, corruption and a fight for truth and survival.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Dave Golder

This harrowing Oscar-nominated documentary uses illicit cell phone footage filmed by Alabama prison inmates to reveal the appalling conditions they are forced to endure. Filmed over six years - after inmates reached out to a team who had been hired to film a sanitised social event - it's a brutal, stomach-churning, blood-soaked, rat-infested chronicle of abuse, slave labour and death. But even with the federal government demanding changes, Alabama officials double down on dealing with the problem in their own way. There must be an "Alabama Solution,"says the state governor, seemingly unaware how close that sounds to "Final Solution". This is not an easy watch, but it's utterly compelling. Even if you attempt to watch it with a healthy dose of cynicism - is it one-sided? Does it romanticise the prisoners into plucky rebels? - in the end, the weight of horrific visual evidence means the inmates come out of this with far more humanity than their political leaders. And while the documentary doesn't claim this is a specifically black-and-white issue, you're left in little doubt that racism is the root of the problem.

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7.8/10

How to watch

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Streaming

NOW

Credits

Cast

rolenameSelf - InmateRaoul PooleSelf - InmateRobert Earl CouncilSelf - InmateMelvin RaySelf - Steven's MotherSandy RaySelf - Steven's BrotherBrandon DavisSelf - Civil Rights LawyerHank SherrodSelf - Steven's CellmateJames SalesSelf - Former Correctional OfficerQuante CockrellSelf - Former Correctional OfficerStacy GeorgeSelf - Alabama Attorney GeneralSteve Marshall

Crew

rolenameDirectorAndrew JareckiDirectorCharlotte KaufmanWriterAndrew JareckiWriterCharlotte KaufmanWriterPage MarsellaProducerAndrew JareckiProducerCharlotte KaufmanComposerMark BatsonComposerChris HanebuttDirector of photographyCharlotte KaufmanDirector of photographyNicholas KrausEditorRameen AminzadehEditorRichard HankinEditorPage Marsella

Details

Languages

English

Formats

Colour