I remember watching this film for the first time when I was about 17 years old and it’s easily of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. Set to the soundtrack of GKMC it’s all about a look into every day life in Compton, possibly America’s most notorious ghetto initially brought into the spotlight initially by N.W.A who brought the struggles and harsh reality of day to day life being young and black in America to the mainstream. However unlike the music and vision of 90s gangsta rap, this film really explores menial day to day life in Compton and the importance of this is I think is that it focuses on the humanity and real lives of people just trying to live their lives among the chaos and urban decay that we immediately attribute to America’s ghettos.

The use of shots, voice overs and music creates such a unique and captivating experience that feels so natural and genuine while being quite artistic and even abstract at times. Another thing this film does so well is the way it cycles through different feelings and moods, switching from crazy gang activity to relaxed shots of people cruising along the street or house parties and kids going to school etc. You feel like such a wide view of Compton is captured here. Sticking to the impressionistic style, the film also focuses largely on little details and closeups of subjects that creates an intimate kind of connection to the people within the film.

A really interesting part of this film too is the people hanging upside down from street lamps in otherwise normal looking scenes, my interpretation of this is that it’s supposed to outline people who have been killed at various locations while on the average day these spaces are more or less like any usual corner store or car park. The juxtaposition between chaos and calm that’s continued throughout the whole film is brought out most strongly in these shots.