Using two decades of intimate home video, the story of the Sanford family, whose struggles with addiction and gun violence eventually lead to a journey of love, loss, and acceptance.
This powerful documentary was shot over a 20-year span that accounts for the life of the Durant family who began filming while living in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in D.C., just 17 blocks from the US Capitol. Emmanuel, just 9 years old, starts recording his family, mom Chery, older brother Smurf and sister Denice while growing up in a low-income area full of gun violence and crime. While there is a constant battle to succumb the pitfalls of selling drugs as a means to earn fast money to get out or become a drug addict as a means of escape, mom Cheryl, unfortunately, had become an addict and this affects the family in many ways.
We find out the children’s father had been gunned down when they were young, leaving no authority figure in the home with the exception of Cheryl’s boyfriend Joe who also participated in drug use and dealing, which attributed to their volatile relationship. The lack of structure and guidance Cheryl or Joe cannot provide, has very serious residual effects on the children, as they seem to be faced to raise themselves. Smurf is affected the most and eventually drops out of school at age 15, then begins selling and using drugs, and eventually becomes a father way too soon. The violence in the neighborhood is nearly unbearable to witness as you see a young kid get jumped in the middle of the street while pleading for help as a result of not paying back the drug dealers. Hearing Emmanuel tell the story of his brother’s friend Dante who was shot on the basketball court just because he won the game just blew me away. Smurf seems to just fall, over and over again, getting arrested and spending time in jail because of possession of drugs.
Denice seems to try to stay on a somewhat level path and does the best she can considering her situation. Cheryl, on the other hand, cannot break her drug habit, or behave like a responsible adult. As we see the children get older over the years and the family move to different homes in D.C., their situation does seem to improve, even slightly. The neighborhoods appear to be less dangerous than the last, Emmanuel meets the love of his life and becomes a great student earning many scholarships to further his education. He decides to become a fireman and gets accepted to the training school which makes everyone proud. It saddens me when they reveal that over a ten-year span, Cheryl was still using drugs and was too high to even attend Emmanuel’s high school graduation, something she will always regret. Smurf has fallen deeper than ever before with many more arrests and he has become a young father of 2. Denice is now a mother herself, working aremedial job struggling to take care of herself and her children while helping her mother.
When two armed men rob Smurf one day on his way home, this becomes a pivotal moment in the documentary that forces the family to face themselves and ultimately decide whether they want to live the rest of their lives in the same situation just to watch their children repeat their history, or change. The armed men enter the home asking who else is there. When Smurf tells them his brother is upstairs, Emmanuel hears noise and approaches the stairs. There is a fight as Emmanuel tries to disarm the gunman and he is shot and killed.
This is one of the most poignant, honest, disturbing yet inspiring documentaries I’ve seen in a long time. There are so many raw scenes that just touched me and scared me so deeply because as time moves on, we do see huge changes within the family as they finally open up about Emmanuel’s death, Cheryl’s drug abuse and deciding to be accountable for their past and future. This family proves you can be strong and overcome anything. And when we see the son, now just 9-years-old, like Emmanuel, picks up the video camera and continues their journey, I am hopeful for him but also terrified. An amazing documentary that will open your heart and mind.
“17 Blocks” recently had its World Premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival
