Behind the Scenes with Andrew Jarecki
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What is the main focus of Andrew Jarecki's documentary, The Alabama Solution?
Pushkin.
Hello, hello, revisionist history listeners. As many of you will know, we did a seven-part series last fall called The Alabama Murders, the story of the death of a preacher's wife in the shoals in northwestern Alabama 35 years ago and the tragic reverberations of that case. I honestly think it's one of the best things we've ever done on revisionist history. And almost the exact time that our series dropped, HBO aired a brilliant documentary called The Alabama Solution. The revisionist history series was about the death penalty in Alabama. The Alabama Solution was about the prison system in Alabama.
We have record numbers of people leaving out of here in body bags. They don't want the public to see what's really going on on the inside. How can a journalist go into a war zone but can't go into a prison in the United States of America? The state is selling one lawsuit after another. There's no consequences for their actions. There's an argument that there is some systemic problem within all of our facilities, and I wholeheartedly disagree with that.
How do The Alabama Murders and The Alabama Solution connect?
The two projects fit together almost perfectly. So I called up the director of the documentary, Andrew Jarecki, and said, do you want to sit down for a conversation? And he said yes. And so we got together at On Air Fest in Brooklyn for a long talk about Alabama and filmmaking and all kinds of other things. If the name Andrew Jarecki seems familiar to you, it's because he's one of the preeminent documentarians of our time. He did Capturing the Freedmen, The Jinx, a brilliant, brilliant guy. Here's our conversation. Andrew, welcome to Brooklyn. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. The reason you and I are on stage is that back in the fall, we released a seven-part series on revisionist history called The Alabama Murders.
And almost at exactly the same time, you released a documentary on HBO called The Alabama Solution. Our series was about a capital crime. punishment case. Your series was about the Alabama prison system. And it was this marvelous instance of two works that overlapped but didn't overlap. And I texted you and said, we should have a conversation. And here we are. And I found your documentary extraordinary. And I was just telling you backstage, I'm not someone who listens, watches a lot of documentaries, but I have seen all of yours. Captioner Friedman's Jinx. This is the best in my mind.
Thank you.
And I was curious, I would like you to start, tell us how you came to do a story about the Alabama prison system, because I suspect it's not a straight line. You didn't sit down one day and say, I want to do a story about the Alabama prison system.
Yeah, I think nothing's a straight line, certainly for me. And I was noticing also your podcast around that same time, and I was sort of I was kind of holding back because I thought, is this going to influence what we're working on? You know, um, just because it's hard, like when you're making one thing and then somebody else does something else. And especially if it's a smart person, you're like, uh, what if they do this better or what do they have an idea? And then I'm drawn to that idea or something like that. But I did get to listen to it and it's, it's really superb and, and, and, and, and extremely familiar to me. So I, um, You know, when I was making Capturing the Freedmen's, I had reason to go into Dannemora Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
And I found that the visit was so punishing just as a visitor. Everything about it was so difficult and brutal. And then when I saw... the waiting room and I saw how people were being treated there. I just thought, I think I need to get deeper into this prison. And I wasn't able to do that. But then over the years, I just visited a lot of prisons. Um, and I was really amazed at how poorly we do this. Um, but yeah, I never really understood the Alabama system because it's so secretive. I mean, I would say all prisons in the U.S. are sort of treated like black sites. And, you know, you drive down the highway and you see a little metal sign that says XYZ Correctional Facility in upstate New York or someplace.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main focus of Andrew Jarecki's documentary, The Alabama Solution?
0:06–1:17
2
How do The Alabama Murders and The Alabama Solution connect?
1:17–7:08
3
What challenges did Andrew Jarecki face while making The Alabama Solution?
7:08–45:08
4
How did contraband cell phones impact the documentary's storytelling?
45:08–45:54
5
What unique filming techniques were used in The Alabama Solution?
45:54–59:15
6
How does the documentary address systemic issues in the Alabama prison system?
59:15–1:00:30