A meaningful social initiative to connect young daughters with their incarcerated fathers is the subject of this rewarding Sundance award-winning documentary that might be one of the most moving films of the year.
Review #2,867
Dir. Angela Patton & Natalie Rae
2024 | USA | Documentary | 108 min | 1.85:1 | English
PG13 (Netflix rating) for some thematic elements and language
Cast: –
Plot: Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., jail.
Awards: Won Audience Award – U.S. Documentary & Festival Favourite Award & Nom. for Grand Jury Prize (Sundance)
Distributor: Netflix
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Father-Daughter Relationship; Incarcerated Fathers; Social Initiative
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: Netflix
Spoilers: No
One of the most moving films of 2024, Daughters earned the Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Even better, it scored a worldwide distribution deal with Netflix, so it’s just a click away if you have a subscription.
It should easily crack the longlist for Oscars consideration but it will need a big push to bring it a few steps closer to success.
A film about incarcerated fathers (most of them Blacks) who are in prison for various crimes, and their young daughters who hope they will return home one day, Daughters distils the collateral damage done to families when there is an absent paternal figure.
This open ‘father wound’ hurts tremendously and through the stories of these broken families, we begin to see how imprisonment can impact the lives of loved ones.
But a crime is still a crime and there are always consequences. However, Daughters intentionally avoids any information about the men’s crimes—we can only guess their severity when someone makes a passing comment on the length of his jail term.
“When I don’t see my Dad, that makes me mad and it makes me want to miss him, but now I’m getting happier because I’m gonna see him.”
This deliberate stance towards ‘rehabilitation and acceptance’ rather than ‘crime and punishment’ fundamentally builds a work about empathy and human connection.
The meaningful social initiative (‘Date with Dad Dance’) that makes this film possible first began in the late 2000s, with activist and co-director Angela Patton leading it well into the present.
One of the core themes of Daughters is the idea of ‘touch’. Most if not all of these prisoners are unable to hold or hug their daughters for years, hence that father-child dance might be the only time in an unimaginably long while for them to do so.
As they dance and communicate in different ways, we observe the dynamics between each duo—the twin poles of pain and comfort are vividly present in their eyes and voices, but when the curtain is eventually drawn, only one half remains, in body and spirit.
Grade: A-
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 