Imagine that you commit a crime. But accidently.
Still, tell that to the criminal justice system. The next thing you know your own rendition of the white collar American Dream is in the toilet. You’re just one more prisoner now.
Or, as Bottles puts it: The fact is, we all started out as someone’s little angel. And a place like this forces us to become warriors or victims. Nothing in between can exist here.
Few actually imagine that something like this can happen to them. And, in fact, it almost never does. But there is no denying that something like this is never really out of the question. A series of events [only more or less in your control] starts you tumbling down the hill like that proverbial snowball. And once it gets started there no telling where or how it will end up.
Let’s put it this way. The man we meet before the accident is barely recognizable in the man we meet 10 years later. He’s in there somewhere though. At least that’s what most are hoping. But in prison there’s the “convict code”. You do what you have to do in order to survive. So, welcome to the world of “you’ve got no choice”.
Of course for most of us there’s no telling how accurately this depicts a prison existence. This one being Chino in California. We can easily imagine how it might unfold in this manner. But we don’t really know how likely it is.
And then the part about gangs. And all gangs are is an existential contraption that provide a set of rules [and a hierarchy] that you can anchor “I” to. You become “one of us”. And then it all begins to revolve around dealing with the folks who are “one of them”. And here race is almost always the bottom line.
This is a bleak portrait of just how far things can go in our nihilistic postmodern world. Still, while these folks will be object lessons for some and they will be role models for others.
Look for Jamie and Ghost.
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_Caller_(film
trailer: youtu.be/QQxjyRr9k2E
SHOT CALLER [2017]
Written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh
Katherine: Honey, the light!!
And then, just like that, everything changes.
[b]Kutcher: You ready to catch some cockroaches?
Detective: Yeah. Bring it.
Kutcher: According to our CI, the Beast is doing an arms deal with this Southern Mexican in the next 48 hours. He’s ordered this guy, Jacob harlon, goes by the street name of Money, to handle things. Harlon hit the streets yesterday.
Detective: This Harlon validated?
Kutcher: No, but our CI says he’s a sleeper.
Detective: The beast? That dude’s been running Cali for the last 15 years… All from the fucking hole, too.
…
Detective: So, what’s the plan?
Kutcher: Harlon faces strike three. We nail that fucker, get him to flip on the Beast. Simple. Whole power structure comes tumbling down.
…
Katherine: Okay, so they accepted the house as collateral. So I can bail you out, get you outta there. Okay? What? Did something happen? What?
Jacob: I know this is gonna be hard to take but Steve got them to accept a deal. If I plead no-contest, they’ll agree to two years…
Katherine: No! No, we’re fighting this.
Jacob: If we do, I’m facing seven years.
Katherine: If we win this, you face none.
Jacob: Kate…Honey, I blew a point 0.10. I ran the red. I killed Tom.
Kate: It was an accident. It was an accident.
Jacob: I know.
Kate: I don’t care what Steve says. People don’t go away for accidents!
Jacob: Jennifer and Tina will never see Tom again. I’m responsible. Sixteen months, it’s nothing compared to what they’re going through.[/b]
So, what constitutes justice here?
[b]Jacob: Can’t wait for this cheese steak.
Howie: Used to come here a lot?
Jacob: It’s a short walk from my office.
Howie: Sorry, but I just can’t picture you in a suit. All Gordon Gekko and shit.
…
Steve: [on a prison phone to Jacob]: Look, man, I know you’re scared. All right? I would be scared. But you need to know this—all violent crimes, from domestic battery to capital murder, get housed together. It means you’ll be with the big boys. And they will test you, whether you like it or not. So you gotta stand up for yourself…because once you’re marked in there it will never end.
…
White prisoner [to Jacob]: You gonna roll with us or not?
…
Prison guard [to Jacob in the hole]: You throw any piss or shit I’ll leave you in here for the whole 30, no rec. Leave your dirties by the door.
…
Bottles: I’m Bottles.
Jacob: Jacob.
Bottles: Yeah, the stock broker from Pasadena. When you come to yard, chow, you take a shit, whatever…you stick to your own race. Why did you fight that Toad?
Jacob: He challenged me first.
Bottles: You gonna go around kicking it off with every buster that calls you out?
Jacob: I’m not looking for trouble, no. But I’m not taking any shit either.
…
Bottles: The only thing we got in here is our respect. The question is, what you gonna do when you’re out here slumming it with the rest of us? Cause the safety of these numbers comes with a price. There are no free rides here. Everyone puts in work, whether cliqued up or not.
Jacob: I understand.
Bottles: I’m not talking about helping us with our computer skills. You’ll get your fucking hands dirty like the rest of us. Or you can go back to seeing how that lone wolf bullshit works out for you, money man.
…
Jacob [sliding an envelope across the table in a restaurant]: This is for you. They’re signature cards to your new checking. Have them notarized, then get them back to me. There’s 178 grand in there.
Katherine: I don’t know how you got that money, and I don’t care. You need to keep that. I’m not taking it.
Jacob: No, it’s yours now.
Katherine: I’m not taking your gang money!
Jacob: Just keep it down.
Katherine: Don’t tell me what to do. You don’t get to do that. I don’t hear from you for seven years. Nothing! I mean, how do you even now where I live?
…
Prisoner: There’s gonna be a balloon in your canteen. You’re responsible for it.
Jacob: What do I do with it?
Ptrisoner: Take it to yard tomorrow.
Jacob: How?
Prisoner: In your fucking ass, man. Make sure you lube-up, too. You don’t want this shit breaking off inside you.
…
Bottles [to Jacob on the yard]: I know you’re shitting bricks right about now. Trying to rationalize the morality. What will your family think of you? How will they judge you? All of that went through my head, too, when I first broke my cherry. And then I realized none of that matters. The only thing that matters is you getting home to your family in one piece…The fact is we all started out as someone’s little angel. And a place like this forces us to become warriors or victims. Nothing in between can exist here.
…
Jacob: Some things just don’t go back together again. They just don’t. You, your mom, are on your own trajectory now. I’m on another one.
Joshua: What, just wasting the rest of your life, dad?
Jacob: It doesn’t matter what I do! Your job is to take care of yourself and your mom.
Joshua: Look, I get why you pushed us away. It was to protect us. But, dad, you’ve done your time now. It’s over. Let us help you get back on your feet. Please.
Jacob: You wanna help me?
Joshua: Yeah, I do.
Jacob: Then stay away.
…
Bottles [to Jacob on the yard]: Iron up.
…
Judge: Mr. Harlon, with this court finding you guilty of assault by a prisoner with a deadly weapon I’m sentencing you to the middle term of four years. In addition, having been found guilty of committing this crime in association and for the benefit of a gang, I’m sentencing you to an additional five years to run consecutively. Penal code 667.5 requires that you serve a minimum of 85 percent of these terms. Both will run concurrently with your initial sentence.
Jacob [to Katherine]: It’s over. Forget I exist.
…
Prison official: You’ll be locked down 23/7 in the security housing unit with one hour yard time. Three showers a week. You will not be allowed in the same open area as any other inmate, outside your cellie. And there will be no warning shots. You cliqued up with anyone?
Jacob: No.
Prison official: Why participate in the riot?
Jacob: You know why. You got your rules and we got the gang’s rules. And theirs matter.
…
Ripper: Redwood, this is Money.
Redwood: Heard how you got down at Chino. So did the Beast.
Jacob: Appreciate it. He still in the hole?
Redwood: Four hundred yards to my six. Less nine years.
Jacob: Little different than the mainline?
Redwood: You could say that. Make no mistake, brother, they design places like this to break men like us.
…
Kutcher: You know, I can’t put my finger on it, Manny, but there’s more to this harlon guy.
Manny: What you mean, like a power play?
Kutcher: Phil says his wife and his kid show up to his motel, slams the door in their face. I mean, you talking about a guy with a perfect life, all right? A fucking envious life. He’s got not one prior. Can’t even fucking spell the word gangster, man. He gets fucked up on a dui manslaughter, kills his friend. Yeah, a dime will change you for sure, but a guy like that gets out, throws everything away? No.
Manny: Look, all I know is, once a dude gets institutionalized, anything is possible, man.
…
The Beast: Know who I am?
Jacob: Yes.
The Beast: They sent Redwood to death row after what happened. It took him four months to finally get that screw. Fuck 'em. These cops…they need to understand that we run the show. Some get it. Like Roberts. But the rest think the more they lock us down and isolate us it strips us of our power. They even think we closed the books. We’re a dying breed. They’re dead fucking wrong. We’re just real selective…Who we choose to call our brother. So the question is…are you ready?
Jacob: Yes.
The Beast: What I wanted to here.
…
Beast [on cell phone]: You know shotgun? He just sent word to me about a heavy shipment of guns a youngster smuggled back from Afghanistan. He wants permission to go to Herman Gomez to offload them for a million five to their cartel connections. And he’s out, too. Just like you’ll be in 30 days. I’ll get word to Herman you’re handling the deal for us. And fuck our usual cut. Shotgun just bought himself a full partner on this.
Jacob: I’ll be on parole though.
The Beast: The fuck’s that got to do with anything? Well, 10 years you think the fucking honor of being one of us ends at the gates? It ends when you’re six feet under. Until then, you will keep earning for your brothers. I understand that before you say another fucking word think of your family in this decision.
Jacob: Excuse me?
The Beast: Did I stutter?
…
Jacob: How many guns did you tell shotgun you had total?
Howie: Same as I told you!
Jacob: You lie to me again, I’ll blow your fucking head off! How many?
Howie: Two. Two thousand AKs. Shotgun, right before I met you, Shotgun said that if I said anything about the extra guns, he’d green-light me, Money. You gotta believe me.
Jacob: Where are they?
Howie: Shotgun’s dead, isn’t he?
…
Jacob: I already pleaded guilty to the guns. Let me do my time like a man.
Kutcher: You see, that’s what I don’t get. I’ve been around long enough to know when a con’s making moves simply to survive or when it’s that rare breed that relishes in the power. But that’s not you. Not by a long shot. Why you throwing your whole life away? Look, I don’t know what they’re holding over you but I can offer you something better. Something real. No bluffs, no bs. You give me the Beast and everyone involved and you walk. I mean it. No protective custody, no reduced sentence. Out.
…
The Beast: I gave you a gift…and you spit in my face. How does it feel to be the walking dead?
Jacob: No different than the last 10 years.
The Beast: We’ll see about that when your old lady and kid are lying in blood and you get to live with knowing you’re the cause.
…
The Beast: You knew they’d put you back here. That’s why you led the cops to the bust…to get to me. Well played. Let’s get down, wood.
…
Jacob: We’re gonna get a few things straight here. I’m already doing life without so I could give a shit about additional time. But I’m not sitting on death row waiting to be put down like some animal. So you write it up that he attacked me with the blade first. In return, your arrangement with us stands…including the monthly deposits into your account. Reason I can guarantee these terms is I’m running the show now. Say it.
Corrupt prison guard: You’re running the show.
…
Kutcher [after Jabob leads him to the last of the AKs]: You gotta be shitting me. I still don’t get this guy. But I fucking like him.
…
Joshua [in a letter to Jacob]: “Mom told me you’ve gotten life without parole now. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why any of this has happened but I wanted you to know that I’ve accepted reality which is why I will do what you’ve asked me in your letter. I’m moving on with my life, dad. I will learn from your mistakes and I will always be mom’s protector. But most importantly I want you to know that I’ve forgiven you. Your son, Josh.”[/b]