User Reviews

Before he became an onscreen documentary provocateur, Nick Broomfield got his start with this made for PBS look at life in the California Youth Authority. It was quite a coup for Broomfield to get access to the Authority, and this remains an extremely powerful, disturbing, and moving document. Focusing on a handful of incarcerated youngsters, including kids in jail for glue sniffing and B.B. gun use, the film is a raw depiction of a dehumanizing penal system that crushes the hopes and dreams of at risk teenagers. Trio has sadly chosen to bleep out the 'f' words from their print, rendering some of the film's conversations almost inaudible, and they've also fogged out the male genitalia, but the film's brutal strength shines through. Perhaps one day it'll turn up on DVD.

This is a quite remarkable piece of film-making. Nick Broomfield made this documentary in 1978 and it shows a style of documentary making that has been sadly lost in the last 30 years. There is no narration, just a handful of explanatory captions and the film-makers have almost no presence in the film. Louis Theroux (or even Kurt and Courtney) this is not.

And with material this brutal, this disturbing there is no need for any of it. What we get is a simple document of the way that prison dehumanises both guards and prisoners. Most of the young men incarcerated are there for minor offences (one is in for glue sniffing). They frequently rebel to make life difficult for the guards for no reason other than that it is their last remaining form of control over their own lives. In return, the guards act more and more brutally to control the prisoners. The prisoners react by rebelling harder and the cycle continues. Boys sentenced to 3 months stay in for three years or more as time gets added to their sentences.

The last image of the film is one of the most bleak and unforgettable I've ever seen on screen.

Again Nick Broomfield gives the general public insight into what its like inside a public institutions, the side which is generally hidden from their eyes. Comparisons could be drawn to Titicut Follies 1967, which looks at an American mental institution. The great thing about America is, although their institutions are very brutal, they let the documentary film makers do their job. It would be hard to see the British authorities complying to allow the filming of such a movie, not unless captured by an underground reporter like BBC Panorama or Ch4 Dispatches. The "Crime and Punishment" model of dealing with criminality , is heavily tied to Christian philosophy in the West; the idea that evil deeds must be punished. We get to see this, as the main content of their rehabilitation programme appears to be a very animated baptist church preacher and his hearty inmate followers. On an intellectual level, it is hard to see how this inhumane treatment of prisoners could serve wider society in the long run. Its more like a torture chamber/ training camp, for psychopaths. The rates of recidivism among the inmates interviewed for thr documentary reflects this.

Nick Broomfield calls this film "a voyage into Hell" in his contemporary commentary on "Tattooed Tears"--and that it is. Seemingly straight out of the gate, he (and his partner, Joan Churchill) really "got it". Their "fly on the wall" style kept me asking, while watching this searing documentary, "How did they ever get THAT shot?".

Echoing the comments of the other reviewers here before me, it's a pity that Nick Broomfield is now very much the co-star of his documentaries these days, whereas in this 1978 film, there's no commentary whatever, and he certainly doesn't insinuate himself into the story as he does now. For my taste, he had it right early on. I found this film far more affecting than, say, "Kurt & Courtney". The claustrophobic realism of "Tattooed Tears" is unlike any other documentary on this subject that I've ever seen. I found myself 'feeling for' these poor, lost boys. I found myself wishing fervently that somehow, beyond hope, these tormented souls could have turned their lives around and found a little peace.

In short, this is a must-see for documentary fans--and certainly, for fans of Nick Broomfield's other work. What DID ever happen to this style of documentary filmmaking--this heroic, shoot-at-all- costs style that seems to have disappeared almost completely? I've seen most of Broomfield's films and this one stands above and beyond any of his other work. A truly shattering film. (This comment may 'date' my review, but it's currently available on Amazon Prime, free to Amazon Prime members--and highly worth seeking out elsewhere, too!).

it's a lot more powerful for its dispassionate approach, the reviews written here are excellent, not much more to add. I guess this film is available online from bootleg sources that sell a really good print of it on DVD quite cheaply, but you won't find it anywhere else. I'm sure I've seen some of NBs other films, I don't recall him as an "onscreen provocateur" in the Aileen Wouranous (sic) film... But this movie as someone has said, shows the great power of using pure cinema without a michael moore personality getting doing schtick which the world is all carried away with now to the detriment of the documentary form for sure.