I’m a pretty big fan of great documentaries.  I love ones about celebrities mostly, but ones about real-life situations like Daughter are very fascinating to me as well. Getting to the bottom of a certain demographic or family dynamic can be very interesting when they are done right. That’s the case with this film. It puts a finger on a specific issue and tells that story very well.

Daughters is a documentary about a special Washington DC area prison program that sets up inmates with a special one-time-only father-daughter dance.  It features four daughters Santana, Aubrey, Ja’ana, and Raziah, and their fathers Frank, Kieth, Mark, and Alonzo. These are children of incarcerated men. The film deals with the struggles of the mothers and how being separated from their children hurts these men. 

This is a pretty straightforward documentary. It features a lot of talking heads from the families involved in the film as well as a therapy group session involving the prisoners who are in the father-daughter dance program. Some other people such as Angela Patton, the woman who created the program in the DC area, and Clinique, a woman who helps facilitate the men meeting their daughters and Chad Morris a life-coach who overseas the therapy session with these men.. A lot of these people helped me be more informed about the situation involved here.

The dance scenario was a joyous one for all involved. There were quite a few tears from everyone. The fathers didn’t come across as bad men during the dance or therapy sessions. They just were young and in a bad place when they committed the crimes that got them locked up in the first place. The girls were all dressed beautifully and wonderful music was played. Pictures were also taken to commemorate the occasion. This was an emotional situation for me watching so I can only imagine how it was for all involved.

Think documentary sheds light on a situation in this country that has become quite an epidemic.  That is a father being put into prison for whatever reason and leaving families behind. Crying children who miss them a lot. Our country has a way of pointing the finger at specific men of color and that’s why the prisons are full of black men who are more often than not fathers. It’s a sad situation if you ask me. I think programs like this one can help these men and their families get over these difficult times. Also, give the children a way to interact with their fathers other than phone calls and non-touch visits. 

The one sequence in the film that hit home how difficult this situation was for all involved was when the dance was over and the girls were escorted out of the room where the dance took place, and then prison itself was where the inmates had to change from the nice suits they were wearing with ties and shiny shoes back into their orange prison scrubs. That made this scenario come full circle. That was a hard pill to swallow while watching the documentary. 

Daughters is an eye-opening film that shows that inmates deserve respect and that they are human. Not just people wasting away in prison. The emotional heft that this film shows proves that. The people involved in making this documentary,  directors Natalie Rea, and Angela Patton deserve a round of applause.  This is an exceptional film about real people in difficult circumstances who have made the best of them. These kids can have an outlook better than what they would have had had they not had this experience. The same goes for the fathers. 

Daughters is streaming on Netflix

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen