STOLEN LIVES // A FILM REVIEW OF "BELLY OF THE BEAST"
The horror stories of what happens beyond prison are staggering. From dirty guards to questionable inmate care, America's prison system needs a major overall. So while it shouldn't be surprising to hear one more awful thing from this fractured system, it is surprising. And heartbreaking. For years, prisons around the country have been illegally sterilizing women, particulary Black and Latin women. BELLY OF THE BEAST mainly covers the state of California and the horrible practices that goes on behind the scenes. We mainly follow Kelli Dillon's story, a former inmate at a California prison who was unlawfully sterilized and never told about it. Like many other prisoners, Kelli had hoped to have additional children when she was released. She was incarcerated for killing her abusive husband and was sentenced to 15 years. She sadly missed out on being able to raise her two children. She soon finds out that she is not alone, as state and prison records in CA reveal that nearly 1,400 sterilizations were performed on prisoners between 1997 and 2013. The injustice that Ms. Dillon and so many others have faced is infuriating, especially when we see how little so many within the prison system actually care. As one prison doctor says in private, "It's cheaper than welfare, isn't it?"
It also tells the story of Cynthia Chandler, the lawyer representing Ms. Dillon and a founder of "Justice Now," a prison abolition organization. The third subject is Corey G. Johnson. He's a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting. Kelli Dillon was 24 years old when she was sterilized, something she wasn't even told about until after she had re-entered the real world. Eugenics is not anything new, with the most bracing example being Nazi Germany and most recently we saw pregnant women in detention centers being sterilized without consent. It's happening at an alarming rate to people of color by doctors who had anything but their best interests in his heart.
Dillon and Chandler work together to get an anti-sterilization bill passed and it should come to no surprise that they get push back. They also want reparations for those already abused with this practice, from 1909 to present day. We see Dillion go from a young women who was a victim of abuse and had her life taken from her to a voice for the voiceless. Women who don't have anyone willing to fight for them. Dillon is now a domestic abuse violence counselor and swears that, by the end of the documentary, it's not over. “No one should have their opportunity to be a mother taken away or decided for them." It's inspiring watching her create such an inspiring journey, years after so many gave up on her. It's also infuriating to see what she has gone through and how much has been stripped away from her. Her activist lawyer Cynthia Chandler also shows how much she has dedicated her life towards helping others, sometimes at the expense of her own family (we see her realizing this and it's heartbreaking). And although a happy ending isn't assured by the end of the doc, Dillon assures us that she will keep fighting until she finds one. She tells us that after the life she's lived, she deserves a happy ending. And we, as a collective audience, fully agree.
GRADE: A
DIRECTED BY Erika Cohn FEATURING Kelli Dillon, Cynthia Chandler, Corey G. Johnson. Now playing at select theatres and Digital Cinemas.