Nate is a convict who sits in the prison library looking at the books he has read since his time inside; he ruminates over his original mistake, which led him to prison, debt, and few options – thus entering him into a downward spiral where a return to his current state was almost predictable.
We all know the stats about the size of America's prison population; as a liberal I have seen plenty of documentaries which have rung their hands in despair at the situation while also simultaneously failing to offer any actual way out of the situation as a society, or for the individuals. As a result I must say that this monologue delivered by Henry does have the feel of being overly familiar in terms of where and what it is. This feeling that we know from the start where we are, does rather take away from the piece, if only because it stopped me focusing on the delivery and more making assumptions about where it was going. This wasn't helped by the fact that the film does indeed go where you expect it to – trapped in a circle, and eventually coming back to Reagan and his war on the hood.
It is well delivered in one take, and it has a weary acceptance to it that seems genuine, but in the end it does feel too much like a story we all know, and the writing doesn't add a great deal to it to make it stand out in this series.