The film deals with the life of Stanley Tookie Williams (Foxx), the co-founding member of the Crips street gang.[3] Along with showing his life in the streets and his time in San Quentin State Prison, it shows the work Williams did while incarcerated to help decrease gang violence in the world. The film was shot in 2003 while Williams was still imprisoned. On December 13, 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection.
During Williams' incarceration, he began co-writing a series of books with Barbara Becnel for young children about the dangers of gang violence. The first volumes of these books were published in 1996 by a small New York company.[4] A quote from one of books which focuses on how gangs abuse power states, "... As a teenager, I didn't know the meaning of power. I thought that by using violence to scare people, I was proving that I had a lot of power. But when you use your power to make someone do something they don't want to do, or to hurt someone, you are abusing your power."[4]
The books generated enough publicity that in 2000, a member of Switzerland's national parliament nominated Williams for the Nobel Prize.[5][4] Shortly after, a biopic of Williams was pitched to FX. Producer Rudy Langlais signed on to develop the project, saying Williams "struck [him] as a man in the midst of sort of reinventing himself...wrestling with past and future, becoming aware he is one step away from extinction."[4] The production took on a sense of "emotional urgency" in September 2002 when the federal appeals court rejected Williams' appeal against the death penalty and suggested his sentence be reduced to life in prison instead.[4]
Filming
The film was shot in 38 days during July and August 2003.[4] All of the filming took place in Toronto, except for one full day in South Central Los Angeles and one half-day of exteriors in San Francisco.[6] A scheduling crisis emerged as Foxx had signed on to the film Collateral, which was due to begin filming soon. Though Foxx had the option of dropping out of Redemption, he chose to stay on and the shooting schedule was compressed to accommodate him.[4]
Foxx spent many hours visiting with Williams at San Quentin and continued to correspond with him after filming ended.[4] Said Foxx, "I gave him my word I was going to take care of this story. I had to do this project....I know I'm going to be successful, but with projects like this it's not the money you make, it's having the chance to touch, to get a chance to inspire. Especially for black folks....If we can get some education about some of the things we go through, it's worth more than any amount of money."[4]
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2004.[7] It was later aired on the FX cable network on April 11, 2004.[4]
Critical reception
While Jamie Foxx's performance was lauded, with The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley saying he plays Williams "with iron-cast reserve, quietly conveying the authoritative presence of the man",[8] critics said the story was limited by its made-for-TV format.[9][10] Stanley said the film "is not interested in exploring uncomfortable, contradictory truths; it trafficks in simplistic myths and misplaced martyrdom."[8]
