Review: Time
If Time weren’t so devastatingly personal, it would stand alone as a compelling documentary about mass incarceration reform advocacy. Fox Rich is clearly a powerhouse figure. The speeches and rallies she puts on that are peppered throughout the film are legs enough to stand on to make the film an important one, but it was the heart-wrenching home video footage of Fox chronicling her families decades-long fight to have her husband released from prison, that really sets this documentary apart as one of the most important documents of 2020.
A crime committed by Fox and her husband, Rob, landed them in prison in their early 20s, a crime which they both served time for, but she was able to serve a shorter sentence and go home to raise their four children while Rob was sentenced to 60 years in prison without parole. A punishment that far outweighs the crime in this case.
Garett Bradley, a young, up-and-coming director with what seems to be a bright future in feature filmmaking, constructed a stunning film with black and white cinematography and a soundtrack that was moving at every turn. The music is sourced from a pianist and Ethiopian nun, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, who’s tone and style is the perfect complement to the feeling of the fluidity of time in the film. These meaningful, artistic choices help Time stand out in the midst of the countless stories of injustice that we’ve come to learn more about through television and film this year. This story will stay with me for a long time.