Educational Media Reviews Online

Filmed at the La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas, California—a popular hot spot for spoken word artists, this brief documentary provides only a glimpse into the world of slam poetry. The film includes performance footage of several different poets, along with clips of personal interviews filmed at home or work. Demonstrating the dichotomy between real-life and performance, Freeman investigates some of the intimate themes often explored by spoken artists. While the concept of this film is interesting, the brevity of the film did not allow the theme to be fully explored. At a fairly reasonable cost of $20.00 (for 23 minutes of footage) this documentary could be of benefit for educators wishing to provide an introduction to the genre of slam poetry. For those already familiar with the genre of slam poetry, the film leaves a bit too much unspoken. Recommended with reservations.