15 Devastating Documentaries That Mustn't Be Ignored
15. Prison Terminal: The Last Days Of Private Jack Hall (Edgar Barens, 2013)
Jack Hall returned from World War 2 tainted by the violence he witnessed and for years was haunted by nightmares. When he lost his son to drugs years later, he did what he was trained to do, killing the drug dealer who bragged on street corners of selling to the neighbourhood. Now at 82 years old, after serving his country and spending decades in prison, Hall gets to die in a makeshift hospice on the prison's medical wing, riddled with regret and afraid of hell. Some send off for a war hero. At 40 minutes, this HBO doc is a short and bitter sweet, intimate and human and Private Jack Hall, the man, is sharp and engaging, even in ill health. As well as being an intimate portrayal of his last days, the film also paints a broader, no-nonsense picture of a hospice run by other inmates serving life sentences, and how one group helps prisoners die with dignity, and it is stunningly affecting. The question of course if whether you can take the time to share the last moments of a dying mans life with him, even if he is a murderer? Well, you should. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYWVsmNL2kE
KJ Lewis is 35 years old, was able to rear three small children into three slightly bigger children and has a relatively untested and unfounded passion for writing.
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