Daughters (2024)

Daughters-(2024)
Daughters (2024)

Angela Patton explains how she helped some fathers behind bars to integrate into the Richmond community in a widely referenced TEDxWomen Talk. Some might find it fascinating that such a place can be constructed where both the fathers and daughters feel cherished. The program has spread to other jails thanks to the effectiveness of such daddy-daughter dances. The movie Daughters, which Patton co-directed, captures the first of such dances conducted at a Washington D. C. prison. Patton verbally expressed her feelings towards one of the men who was to pitch the idea saying, “None has asked something as intense as this”.

To qualify for the program, the fathers must complete a fathering course that lasts for 10 weeks, and this course touches on sharing challenging moments, fears, and regrets. It’s a rather fascinating notion as one man states that it is the first time such topics have been mentioned among men.

The film’s directing team of Patton and Natalie Rae remain intent on pursuing the story of the four girls, which is manifested in the multiple camera angles directed at them, as the title suggests. There is one more girl, Aubrey, who is simply adorable, and surprisingly enough, we meet her when she is only five years old.

She never fails to showcase her achievements by adorning herself with certificates which she hangs up on her wall, since she is the best student in her class she has the right to bear her head high. Furthermore, she wishes to learn more about multiplication tables, which she enjoys pursuing. As she keeps on elaborating on the importance of the digits, it strikes me that one of the many reasons why she is interested in these numbers is that she wants to understand when her father will finish serving the seven-year prison term, which is much longer than she has existed.

The realization that a father’s absence is brought about by one’s own bad choices is deeply painful for a few reasons. This seems to be the attitude ten-year-old Santana has regarding her father and his abandonment; she claims that she has to play the father’s part in her household due to there being two more young children present. Despite Santana’s childish imagination, she claims in a more scornful tone that she does not plan on having children in the future, which allows her to marry. Ja’Ana, eleven years old, remembers in anguish: “In addition, I haven’t ever met my grandfather; he has died. I don’t recall anything about my father as well.” Fifteen-year-old Raziah on the other hand feels hopeless, furious, and resentful of herself, all while thinking about ending her life. He has come across a rather disturbing modification of family values and relations: a member of the group who was fourteen when she bore him a child became pregnant with him when she was thirteen, as he refused to leave her alone. He knows better than anyone that had this girl’s father not been incarcerated, she would have sought out male interest from all angles.

The life of the children is quite beautifully portrayed through the music of Kelsey Lu and the pictures clicked by Michael Fernandez.

Some effects that have been slow motion increase the emphasis on ideas children often think of, ‘for a long time’.

We notice emotional moments from Patton’s programs that focus on motivating Black girls and their mothers to value their heritage as well as what they are capable of. As it is evident for Patton, mothers have been around and he wants these mothers to experience pride as well as sisterhood. She tells the dads to come in closer to the girls to help the mothers. “When our families are intact our communities are better.”

In the documentary ‘Daughters’ which also won the Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite Award at Sundance, there are descriptions of many recorded and quite emotional events. One scene, in which fathers remove orange prison uniforms to wear jackets and ties, could best be described as quite powerful. However, this scene is even more emotional when some fathers are later shown helping other fathers who had never learned how to tie the tie, an art passed from father to son on “special” occasions, such as graduations, dates or first job interviews.

There is a unique charm attached to the flowers that men wear on their coats. During times of separation, every man’s hands wear a bloom and gives his to his daughters, indicating: “You are my affection”.

The reasons behind men being incarcerated are probably the most thought-provoking and interesting ones. However, this movie does not investigate that.

What is important here is that; as a character explains in the film “American Fiction”, “Nobody is as bad as on their worst day.” They want to be there for their daughters. Such time spent away only heightens their despair. Furthermore, they have been made to understand that they are needed. Similar to the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program that was showcased in “Sing Sing,” the rate of re-offense among the participants of this fatherhood program is relatively less than about 3%. At the end of the update, a father says that since his teens he has not spent more than 6 months outside the walls of a prison until he understood the importance of a father being present in support of his daughter. There has been a reversal for at least 4 years during the update and the prisoner was willing to stay out of prison.

Most of the prisons allow for virtual visits, which are stressful for the families instead of in-person visitation. The fathers and daughters embrace after many years of very painful separation and that unleashes torrents of unrestrained joy and sadness. One of the fathers remarks: “For that six hours, it was not a prison”.

For More Movies like Daughters (2024) Visit On 123movies.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top