A powerful movie about inmates motivated by the power of acting.

Last month, I reviewed “Ghostlight,” which used a real Chicago family of Keith Kupferer, his wife Tara Mallen, and their daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer to use the power of Shakespeare to help them through their own tragedy. It was a dark comedy that knew what humor and pathos meant, and it represents humanity in art form.

This month, I now review “Sing Sing,” which uses former convicts who were part of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility. They include Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin and Sean San José, and they all represent the right kind of humanity of prisoners who try to use the power of theater as escapism. All inspired by a true story. I enjoyed it even more than “Ghostlight.” In fact, it’s one of the year’s most entertaining films, as it cuts back on the prison drama cliches (the guards, the solitary confinement, and riots, etc.), and allows us to see these men as individuals.

Coleman Domingo, who continues to meet well with age, plays a wrongfully convicted man named John “Divine G” Whitfield, who has been trying to prove his innocence, while guiding his fellow inmates through the power of acting. When asked by the parole board if he’s acting now, he assures them that he’s making a distinction between honesty and acting.

John mostly writes dramas, and not comedies. To quote Edward Gwynn: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” So, he and the inmates have the visiting director Brent (Paul Raci) merge all their ideas together into one time traveling comedy about an Egyptian prince traveling through time to find his mummy. The play would be known as “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.”

The inmates he grows closer to is Clarence, who has trouble buying John’s optimism in the power of the theater, especially since his son is in prison, too. But even he comes through, and even helps John through his own turmoil. The poetry inside both Domingo and Maclin is so real and provocative, that it’s impossible not to feel bad for them, and co-writer/director Greg Kwedar (“Transpecos”) shows us what acting and humanity is all about. And the writing was also done by Clint Bentley, Maclin, and the real Whitfield.

Sitting in a theater and acknowledging what the RTA has done for the prisoners in one of the most infamous maximum security prisons, we’re able to see them through their perspectives, and very little of the guards or warden. Yes, there are lines and alarms, but there’s not much aggravating beatings. Just Clarence trying to make sure his drug dealings work out, but he can also do better. And John can thrive on such a broken system, and maybe look past that. It’s all heartbreaking, emotional, and uplifting at the same time.

Speaking about “Ghostlight” and “Sing Sing,” I have never gone through any of their characters’ drama, but why do we see these two movies? Because they both use realism and humanity through stage work to escape from their own realities. It’s a real question about the mind and thought, and there’s a complexity in both movies.

“Sing Sing” shows us acting in these real life former inmates, and they have more powerful vibe than how the real life heroes of the 2015 Thalys train attack portrayed themselves in Clint Eastwood’s “The 15:17 to Paris.” And they also work wonders with Domingo and Raci, both professional actors working with names I haven’t heard of before. Now this is real acting at its finest, and if you give all these actors a chance, you will not forget them. And you won’t forget this movie.

Now Playing in Select Theaters

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