Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary (Vittoria, 2012)

Last updated on: October 31, 2015 at 10:03 pm by Kenneth R. Morefield

Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary (Vittoria, 2012) 2015-10-31T22:03:09-05:00 Kenneth R. Morefield

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Before the State of Pennsylvania passed the so-called “Mumia Law” in 1996, which prohibited the filming or photographing of a prisoner sentenced to death, Mumia Abu-Jamal had several filmed interviews. Director Stephen Vittoria uses this archival footage efficiently and effectively to raise questions about Mumia’s incarceration and career as a journalist.

In one of them, a reporter settles in and comments about the the surreal aspect of interacting with someone who is both behind glass and manacled as a condition of having a visitor. When he asks Mumia how conducting an interview under such conditions makes him feel, the prisoner, ever the journalist himself, turns the question back on the reporter: “Do you feel safer?”

It is a small exchange, no longer than fifteen seconds. It is also the film in microcosm, not so much arguing Mumia’s innocence as presuming it, and confronting those indirectly addressed by it with larger, more difficult questions of meaning rather than questions of fact.

It was also the moment that Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary won me over completely. It did so because I answered the question as though it were addressed to me. And the answer was “no.”

That answer is, of course, informed by my belief that Mumia did not commit the crime for which he was convicted, the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. The sight of a guilty man in chains may make us feel marginally safer; the sight of an innocent man in chains just makes us feel a different kind of scared. In the latter case it is a fear of an institutional hate that runs so deep that the checks and balances on the power those institutions wield are willfully bulldozed to make and maintain a public display of power.

The primary complaint most likely to be leveled against the film is that it does not (re)adjudicate the case, although the First Run Features DVD includes a twenty-five minute documentary, ‘Manufacturing Guilt” that summarizes the recantations, inconsistencies, and contrarian physical evidence, that have led international groups such as Amnesty International to denounce the prosecution. (Mumia’s death sentence was eventually vacated by a district court of appeals.)

There’s not much question that this omission is by design. Director Stephen Vittoria rightly intuits that visually summarizing Abu-Jamal’s Wikipedia page could well be emotionally satisfying but would ultimately be less persuasive than simply allowing viewers to see the man and hear his words as read by performers and academics such as Cornel West, Alice Walker, and Giancarlo Esposito.

The portrait that emerges is of a man who, God knoweth how, looks and sounds less angry than those who continue to question his conviction. The United States Congress interrupts its business to pass a resolution denouncing France for naming a street after Mumia. Bob Dole is shown denouncing PBS for giving Mumia a platform to speak. The deeply felt need to ensure that Mumia not only remain incarcerated but rendered silent and invisible lends much credence to Tariq Ali’s observation that “the worst thing is that people get used to atrocities.” Is that our hope? Our desire? I pray not.

It’s not just Mumia Abu-Jamal who deserves better, it is Daniel Faulkner. If, amazingly, the argument that an innocent man spent two decades on death row is not enough to rouse us to action, perhaps the sober reflection that every wrongful conviction means that a murderer escaped justice will.

Long Distance Revolutionary

Previous Post

June 1, 2013

What Maisie Knew (McGehee and Siegel, 2013)

Next Post

June 16, 2013 Free China: The Courage to Believe (Perlman, 2011)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was turned into a pillar of salt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Naomi Lot Ruth Lot's wife