A Documentary Video Series

About Men Caught in the Cycle of Violence

How do You Stop Violence?

In our society we incarcerate the perpetrators, we legislate laws to protect ourselves from future violence, and we comfort the victims if we can. This is our idea of prevention and remeadiation.

The Problem is That:

In This World of Violence

Women and children are most often seen as the victims and men are seen as the perpetrators.

So What is it That Makes Men Violent?

For that matter what makes human beings violent? Finding the answers to these questions is the first step on the way to successfully preventing violence.

Rage is an exploration into the issues which underie violent behavior. It was conceived of, shot and directed by a group of five Federal Category-One Violent Offenders. The project took three years to complete and involved hundreds of people from the Native community in Alberta. It resulted in this four-part series on Family and Community Violence.

Rage is not about guns and knives, although they abound. Rage is about small children waiting alone in houses with no food, waiting days for drunken parents to come home, and hoping that their arrival won't be the beginning of another series of brutal beatings.

Part 1: Childhood Issues and Family Violence

When five Violent Federal Offenders explore the formative events of their childhood, their journey exposes us to the violence and abuse that they experienced as children. Through the retelling of their personal stories, we are able to glimpse some of the unresolved issues that helped to fuel the violence in each of their lives. Part 1 deals primarily with "Abandonment" and "Family Violence" as well as each man's personal reasons for making this series of programs on violence. Their hope is to help change the violent nature of our society, by changing the way that we parent our children.

Part 2: Adolescent Issues and Community Violence

In this second program about the origins of violence, five violent Federal Offenders document how their unresolved emotional experiences around "Death and Grief" "Racism" and "Community Violence" affected their adolescences. By recounting incidents from their past, they are able to relate to us how these same issues continued to influence their adult lives and their descent into anger and violence. The program expresses their firm belief that in order to stop the escalation of violence, we must first change the nature of our families and our communities.

Part 3: Young Adulthood and The Escalation of Violence

This program examines "Life on the Street" and the "Escalation of Violence" as it was experienced and understood by five violent Federal Offenders. It chronicles their social development from youthful victims to violent antisocial predators. The logic of the street is all pervasive and the road to adult violence is paved with the unguided mishaps of children who have been forgotten by their families and by society.

Part 4: Prison and The Cycle of Violence

People think that when a dangerous person is sent to prison, the violence ends there. But for those incarcerated it is just the beginning. Program 4 explores the nature of "Prison Violence" "Suicide" and the "Cycle of Violence" where victims become predators, and predators become victims. After being abandond by their families and communities, inmates then face the final abandonment by society. The series concludes with a plea and a warning: "Re-examine how our society looks after its children or face an inevitable escalation of violence".