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Even when consciously aware of the violent conditions under which the inner-city youths of southern California live, it is still shocking to see them conjured up right under your eyes. It is even more rattling to view past events and social conditions, generally race-related, that are responsible for the escalating war that exists between Crips and Bloods, two of the most famous street-gangs in the world. Taking us back to the roots of chaos is what pro-skater-turned-documentary-filmmaker Stacy Peralta does as he emphasizes America's history of restricting or denying opportunity to the black community as being largely responsible for the existence of this red vs. blue feud. Through interviews of past-and-present gang members, stock footage and a dynamic use of still photograhpy, Peralta fruitlessly attempts to shed some light as to the initial conflict that started this deep-rooted animosity, the only certainty being that no one is really quite certain of how it all began. Narrated by Forest Whitaker, Made in America sets-out to humanize the gang member and contextualize the violence associated to his lifestyle without excusing the horror of its practice.
Perhaps a bit more devastating in subject-matter, Peralta's film keeps in line with his earlier work of exposing California's subcultural lifestyles. Like with Dogtown and Z-boys (2001) and Riding Giants (2004), Peralta is set on exposing the marginal, and in this case deadly, side of the warm California sun.
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