“Sing Sing,” a genuinely moving highlight of 2024, makes most of the other dramas we’ve seen this year look like phonies. It has a few elements, a few moments, that edge into softer emotional territory than most previous prison films go anywhere near. That said, millions on this planet can’t hear the words “Shawshank Redemption” without welling up, and like that film, “Sing Sing” exerts a strong pull on the heartstrings — but without the hard sell or the crafty, manipulative exertion.
As a symbol of bleakness, Sing Sing, the place, was made for the movies, starting with the geographical irony of its location, affording a beautiful view of the Hudson River if only more of its residents could enjoy it. Between the tough, reform-minded early ‘30s films such as “20,000 Years in Sing Sing” and later Hollywood features such as “Castle on the Hudson,” or a mere line or two of telling dialogue in, say, “Citizen Kane” (“I’m gonna send you to Sing Sing! Sing Sing, Gettys!”), the words Sing Sing work like a two-syllable damnation. The new film finds other sides to that damnation.
The Ossining, New York, state correctional facility is one of several hosting the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, known as RTA. “Sing Sing” opens with its leading actor, Colman Domingo, one of our finest American screen talents, on a stage surrounded by darkness. It’s closing night of the latest RTA production: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Domingo plays the real-life John “Divine G” Whitfield, who in the Shakespeare play takes the role of Lysander, one of many characters sorting through a state of confusion and wonder.
Offstage, for these men, there is no curtain call. Whitfield, wrongly convicted of murder, has fresh evidence of his innocence and has one shot at a clemency hearing. Meantime, he serves a life of purpose as best he can, advocating and providing legal advice for his fellow Sing Sing residents. He’s also a champion and veteran of RTA’s Sing Sing theatrical program. The sublime Paul Raci, Chicago native and “Sound of Metal” Oscar nominee, plays the wise owl of a facilitator.