Sunday, March 30, 2008

The 'Real' Wire

A week ago I started watching The Wire. Only 6 episodes into Season One, I can already see that HBO has done it again. The show meets and exceeds all expectations. But, the influence of the show went beyond my own entertainment. Being in D.C., I was curious to know if my neighbor, Baltimore, was being unjustly dramatized in the transfer to the idiot box. It didn't take long to discover that Baltimore faces all of the very serious issues exemplified by the show.

If I wasn't convinced already (and I was), I came upon a great documentary by Al Jazeera News showing the real drama that consumes Baltimore. The series is a two part series and highly recommended for concerned citizens and fans of the show alike. The series is titled "Frontline USA - Baltimore's Stories" (not to be confused with PBS's Frontline). The documentary interviews inner city youth activists and ex-cop, ex-teacher, author, and co-creator and producer of The Wire, Ed Burns.

PART I



PART II

1 comment:

Nick.E.Jo said...

It is perplexing that Baltimore is subjected to poverty and violence only thought to exist is third world environments. What makes it so puzzling is that in the world's richest nation, in the nations capitol and neighboring cities we see tremendous wealth disparity. The immensely segregated wealth stratification is clearly hurting the U.S.